Jelani Cobb | |
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.jpg) Cobb in 2023 | |
| Born | William Jelani Cobb (1969-08-21)August 21, 1969 (age 55) New York City, U.S. |
| Education | Howard University (BA) Rutgers University, New Brunswick (MA,PhD) |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, author, educator |
| Organization(s) | Columbia University The New Yorker |
| Title | Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism |
William Jelani Cobb (born August 21, 1969)[1] is an American writer,[2] author, educator, and dean of theColumbia Journalism School.[3]
Before joiningColumbia University as theIra A. Lipman Professor of Journalism in 2016, Cobb was an associate professor of history and director of the Institute for African American Studies at theUniversity of Connecticut from 2012 to 2016.[4] Since 2015, he has been a staff writer atThe New Yorker.[2][5]
William Jelani Cobb was born inQueens, New York, on August 21, 1969,[1] the youngest of four children. Both of Cobb's parents had migrated from theAmerican south, where they did not have access to high-quality schools. As a result, they were determined to give reading and learning important places in their family life. Cobb counted being taught to write at an early age by his father, Willie Lee Cobb—an electrician with a third-grade education—among his earliest memories. On his website, Cobb described his father's "huge hand engulfing mine as he showed me how to scrawl the alphabet."[citation needed]
Cobb attendedJamaica High School followed byHoward University inWashington, D.C., where it took him seven years to complete his undergraduate degree because he did not consistently have the funds to pay tuition.[6] AtRutgers University, he received aPhD in American history in May 2003 under the supervision ofDavid Levering Lewis.[7]
Cobb has receivedfellowships from theFulbright andFord Foundations.[8]
While studying at Howard, Cobb began his professional writing career, first publishing at a short-lived periodical calledOne. In time, he began contributing to theWashington City Paper. His first national outlet wasYSB magazine, part of theBlack Entertainment Television, Inc. media empire, beginning in 1993. He also became more politically active during this time, and was involved with an organization that took over Howard's administration building in 1989. It was around this time that Cobb, seeking to connect more with African tradition, decided to add "Jelani"—a word meaning "powerful"—to his name.
Cobb specializes in post-Civil WarAfrican-American history, 20th-century American politics, and the history of theCold War. He served as a delegate and historian for the5th Congressional District of Georgia at the 2008Democratic National Convention. He previously taught at Rutgers andSpelman College.[1]
In an August 2022 interview withPolitico Magazine, Cobb, discussing his goals as dean of theColumbia Journalism School, said he wanted to help "make the [journalism] field itself more democratic. I don’t have any illusions about how complicated that undertaking will be."[9]
In March 2025, after the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, Cobb warned foreign students not to post anything on social media about the Middle East or reporting on Gaza, Ukraine, lest they lose their visa or green card.[10]
Cobb's books includeThe Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress[5] (Walker, 2010) andTo the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic (2007), which was a finalist for the 2007 National Award for Arts Writing of theArts Club of Washington.[11] His collectionThe Devil & Dave Chappelle and Other Essays[12] was published the same year. Cobb has contributed to a number of anthologies, includingIn Defense of Mumia,Testimony,Mending the World andBeats, Rhymes and Life, and his articles and essays have appeared inThe Washington Post,The New Yorker,[2]Essence,Vibe,Emerge,The Progressive,The Washington City Paper,One Magazine,Ebony andTheRoot.com. He has also been a featured commentator onNational Public Radio,CNN,Al-Jazeera,CBS News, and other national broadcast outlets.
While doing research at theNew York University library, Cobb stumbled upon a cache of previously unpublished writings byHarold Cruse, an influential scholar. Cobb tracked down Cruse at a retirement home inAnn Arbor, Michigan, and obtained permission to organize and edit Cruse's writings and publish them in book form. The result,The Essential Harold Cruse: A Reader, edited by Cobb with a foreword byStanley Crouch, was published in 2002; it was listed as a 2002 Notable Book of The Year byBlack Issues Book Review. It enhanced Cobb's stature among the African-American Studies community.
Cobb has authored several books, including a scholarly monograph based on his doctoral thesis titledAntidote to Revolution: African American Anticommunism and the Struggle for Civil Rights, 1931–1957.
In 2003, Cobb wrote of theWilliam Lynch speech, "it is absolutely fake".[13]
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