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School of Journalism and New Media
University of Mississippi

Holland inspires University of Mississippi Association of Black Journalists students

Posted on: March 8th, 2021 by ldrucker

“There are few professions where you can make a difference and be guaranteed immortality. Journalism is one of them. Which is why you have to be so careful about what you put your name behind.”

That was just one of the memorable pieces of advice from journalism alumnus Jesse J. Holland to members of the University of Mississippi Association of Black Journalists at their March virtual meeting. Holland was one of the founders of the campus UMABJ chapter when he was a student in the early 1990s.

Jesse Holland Jr.

Holland shared anecdotes about his new book — “Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda” — and his experiences as a journalist, author, educator and comics strip creator. The new Black Panther book is an anthology of short stories from acclaimed writers like poet Nikki Giovanni, who wrote her first piece of fiction for the anthology. Holland edited the book and wrote one of the stories. It is scheduled for release on March 9.

“I truly enjoyed the session,” said AJ Norwood, broadcast journalism major and UMABJ president. “From the very beginning, I could tell that he is an absolutely amazing storyteller. The insight that he was able to provide to not only myself, but to other students that attended was so valuable.

“One of the main things that I learned from Mr. Holland was that you should utilize all of your resources and find mentors who are already doing what you’re doing. If you’re able to do that, learn from their mistakes because you shouldn’t have to make the same mistakes that they have made.  It was an honor to moderate an event with someone with the credibility and grace of Jesse Holland.”

Jesse Holland

Jesse Holland

When he was a student at UM, Holland was a multiple-platform journalist long before it was embraced as something every journalist and communications specialist should be. He was Daily Mississippian editor-in-chief — only the second African-American editor in the student newspaper’s history. He hosted two Rebel Radio shows – one was The Night Train, a rap show that aired at midnight – and worked for the TV newscast and the yearbook. He and two student editor friends created a comic strip called Hippie and the Black Guy.

After he graduated, Holland was a writer for the Associated Press for 25 years. He covered the statehouse in South Carolina, the U.S. Supreme Court, Congress and the White House, and he was on AP’s national race & ethnicity reporting team. He hosts the Saturday edition of C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, and was recently named assistant professor of journalism at George Washington University.

He is the author of two nonfiction books, but he is perhaps best known for writing two novels tied to Star Wars and Black Panther. His first Black Panther book was nominated for a national NAACP Image Award for best fiction in 2019.

“The publishing industry loves journalists because journalists know how to write, and journalists know and respect deadlines,” Holland said.

Jesse Holland

Jesse Holland

Holland’s conversation with the students lasted more than 90 minutes. He spoke at length about his work ethic – just one example: His C-SPAN gig requires him to get up at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday mornings for a show that begins broadcasting at 7 a.m. – and how he fell in love with journalism after he figured out it was “the best way to meet interesting people, go interesting places and do interesting things.”

He talked about how UM students are lucky to benefit from the passionate “fraternity and sorority” of journalism graduates all across the nation who can help them, and he told detailed and sometimes amusing stories about a few who helped him along the way.

“There’s only one job you can do and you’re literally writing history on a daily basis,” he said. “…Years from now, when people read about the donations of Rosa Parks’ archives to the Library of Congress, they’re going to read that the person who discovered Rosa Parks’ material in a warehouse in New York where it had been languishing for 15 years was a guy named Jesse J. Holland. Years and years and years from now, when historians go back and read the stories from Ferguson, Missouri, and ask who was Michael Brown and what happened, the story they’re going to pull up was written by a guy named Jesse J. Holland.”

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