12 Facts About Jelani Cobb

William Jelani Cobb was born on August 21,1969 and is an American writer, author, educator, and dean of the Columbia Journalism School.

William Jelani Cobb was born in Queens, New York, on August 21,1969, the youngest of four children.

Jelani Cobb attended Jamaica High School followed by Howard University in Washington, DC, where it took him seven years to complete his undergraduate degree because he did not consistently have the funds to pay tuition.

Jelani Cobb has received fellowships from the Fulbright and Ford Foundations.

Jelani Cobb became more politically active during this time, and was involved with an organization that took over Howard's administration building in 1989.

Jelani Cobb specializes in post-Civil War African-American history, 20th-century American politics, and the history of the Cold War.

Jelani Cobb served as a delegate and historian for the 5th Congressional District of Georgia at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Jelani Cobb's books include The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress and To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic, which was a finalist for the 2007 National Award for Arts Writing of the Arts Club of Washington.

Jelani Cobb has contributed to a number of anthologies, including In Defense of Mumia, Testimony, Mending the World and Beats, Rhymes and Life, and his articles and essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Essence, Vibe, Emerge, The Progressive, The Washington City Paper, One Magazine, Ebony and TheRoot.

Jelani Cobb has been a featured commentator on National Public Radio, CNN, Al-Jazeera, CBS News, and other national broadcast outlets.

Jelani Cobb tracked down Cruse at a retirement home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and obtained permission to organize and edit Cruse's writings and publish them in book form.

In 2003, Jelani Cobb wrote of the William Lynch speech, "it is absolutely fake".