Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts > Our Mission > News > Writer, historian Lawrence Jackson named Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins

Writer, historian Lawrence Jackson named Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins

Hub staff report / Published Feb 6, 2017

A Black man wearing a green button down shirt with a brown sweater on top. He has a salt and pepper beard and is gently gazing at the camera.

For writer and historian Lawrence Jackson, joining Johns Hopkins University was an appealing homecoming for several reasons.

Beyond the emotional resonance of Baltimore—Jackson grew up here, still has family here, and has written frequently about the city—there’s the academic proximity to the roots of many research topics that intrigue him, including the histories of Billie Holiday and Frederick Douglass.

“There is no better location than where we are to explore the figures I’m interested in in 20th-century history,” says Jackson, who is known for his extensive scholarship on African-American literature and culture, including a biography of Ralph Ellison and a narrative history of mid-century writers. He’s set to publish another biography, focusing on writer Chester Himes, this summer.

After 14 years teaching at Emory University in Atlanta, another compelling motive for Jackson to take on his new role as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor was the chance to leverage the resources of a prominent institution like Johns Hopkins to help enrich his own hometown.

Jackson is in the process of launching a new project designed to preserve and showcase the unique arts, history, and culture of Baltimore City. The project, set to operate through JHU’s Center for Africana Studies beginning in 2018, will focus on these assets as “tools of liberation” and with special attention to “structural foundations of racism and inequality,” he says.

Beyond an archival purpose to protect artifacts of African-American culture and politics, it will host regular events to connect the intellectual life of Johns Hopkins with established Baltimore cultural institutions and neighborhoods. Potential offerings could include seminars at historic black churches and city libraries, and outreach programs with local high schools.

Jackson also hopes to establish an annual free music festival at Lafayette Square, honoring the area’s jazz legacy and that of Holiday, a one-time Baltimore resident.

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