Pamela T. Newkirk

Author, journalist, and professor Pamela Newkirk is a multifaceted scholar who has published a variety of works that present multidimensional portraits of African American life. Her first book, Within the Veil: Black Journalists, White Media explores the historical and contemporary struggles of African American journalists integrating mainstream newsrooms, while her later collections A Love No Less and Letters from Black America present more than two-hundred letters written by African Americans over the past three centuries.

Newkirk’s fourth book, Spectacle: The Astonishing Life of Ota Benga, traces the journey of Ota Benga from the Congo to the United States where, at the turn of the century, he was exhibited at the St. Louis World’s Fair and later the Bronx Zoo Monkey House. Using primary historical documents, Newkirk traces Benga’s footsteps from the Congo, to St. Louis, New York and finally Lynchburg, Virginia where he spent the final years of his short life. She exposes the true circumstances of his capture and captivity which have been sanitized in contemporary accounts, and illuminates why, a century later, the man most responsible for his exploitation has been widely depicted as his friend and savior.

Her most recent book, Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Industry, examines how workplace diversity initiatives have turned into a profoundly misguided industry–and have done little to bring equality to America’s major industries and institutions. Diversity, Inc. incisively illustrates the vast gap between the rhetoric of inclusivity and real achievements.

Pamela holds a B.A. in journalism from New York University and received her master’s degree in journalism and a Ph.D. in Comparative and International Education from Columbia University. She is professor of journalism at NYU.