Wilkerson, Isabel
1961-present · Contribution: 1994-2020
Journalist; author
Became the first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism, awarded in 1994 for feature writing as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times, and went on to author The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste, two of the most acclaimed and widely read works of American nonfiction of the twenty-first century

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Quick facts
- Born
- 1961, Washington, D.C.
- Active since
- 1994
- Category
- Press & Photography
- Best known for
- First Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in journalism; author of The Warmth of Other Suns
Impact on the world
Wilkerson transformed decades of Black migration and American hierarchy into two of the most acclaimed and widely read works of nonfiction of the century, reshaping how the country understands its own past.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica
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