Race and Revolution: Jenna Wortham and Linda Villarosa

Linda Villarosa is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, covering race and public health and a former executive editor at Essence Magazine. In 2017, her cover story "America's Hidden HIV Epidemic" was honored with an Excellence in Journalism Award by the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists; that organization inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 2020. Linda's 2018 NY Times Magazine cover story on infant and maternal mortality in black mothers and babies was nominated for a National Magazine Award. Last year she contributed to the Pulitzer-Prize winning 1619 Project. Her essay highlighted physiological myths, based on race, that have endured since slavery. Linda's April 29, 2020 cover story examined race, health disparities and covid-19 through the lens of the Zulu Social Club of New Orleans, and her August 2, 2020 article, The Refinery Next Door, looked at environmental justice in Philadelphia. Linda teaches journalism and Black Studies at the City College of New York and is writing the book Under the Skin: Race, Inequality and the Health of a Nation for Doubleday. She has twice been a non-fiction writing mentor for the Lambda Literary Foundation's Writer's Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices.