Jenn M. Jackson (they/them) (@jennmjackson) is a queer androgynous Black woman, an abolitionist, and a lover of all Black people. They are the author of the PEN America Open Book Finalist nonfiction book BLACK WOMEN TAUGHT US (2024) from Penguin Random House and the book POLICING BLACKNESS forthcoming from Cornell University Press in 2027. Jackson was a long-time columnist at Teen Vogue, penning articles on Blackness, intersectionality, racism, politics and culture in the United States. They were also a columnist at Yes! Magazine focusing on gender and sexuality, Black Feminism, and politics. Jackson has been published at Al Jazeera, Washington Post, Marie Claire, Ebony Magazine, The Root, among many others. Jackson was the editor-in-chief of Black Youth Project’s digital magazine from 2015 to 2017 and is now the interim EIC at the same publication. In 2021, Jackson participated in the Hurston-Wright Writer’s Weekend for nonfiction writers with Imani Perry where they worked on their forthcoming memoir.
Academically, Jackson’s research is in Black Politics with a focus on racial threat and trauma, gender and sexuality, Black Politics and Feminisms, and social movements. Jackson received their doctoral degree in Political Science at the University of Chicago in 2019. They are a native of Oakland, CA and will always represent their city.