Writer; and Lecturer of Journalism, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism University of Southern California
Holtzbrinck Fellow - Class of Fall 2021
Channing Joseph teaches at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He completed his BA at Oberlin College and MSc in Journalism at Columbia University, and has also worked at Oberlin and the State University of New York–Plattsburgh. His work has been supported by a Logan Nonfiction Fellowship, a Whiting Grant for Creative Nonfiction, and a Leon Levy Center for Biography Fellowship, the International Center for Journalists, Ford Foundation, and Scripps Howard Foundation, among others.
Throughout his career as a journalist, Joseph has been the first to break news on a number of major stories, including Wikileaks’ 2007 publication of secret military documents from the war in Afghanistan. He has published in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, New York Sun, Washington Post, The Guardian, and The Atlantic, among others. As a news editor, he shaped the work of two dozen Pulitzer winners. Joseph has lectured widely on narrative nonfiction, journalism; early LGBTQ history; diversity, inclusion, and access in education and the workplace; and African-American history, literature, and genealogy.
Academy Activities
13
Oct
21
ONLINE: Head-to-Head: A Meeting of Inspired Minds
America’s Black Queer History
In the 1880s, a formerly enslaved Black American, William Dorsey Swann, became the earliest-known self-described “drag queen."
15
Sep
21
Holtzbrinck Berlin - Inspire Together
Black Voices: Reading+Discussion with Channing Joseph, Musa Okwonga & Ciani-Sophia Hoeder
Fall 2021 fellow Channing Joseph and Berlin-based writer Musa Okwonga speak with journalist Ciani-Sophia Hoeder
11
Nov
21
ONLINE: Holtzbrinck Lecture
William Dorsey Swann, Queen of Drag: Uncovering America’s Black Queer History
Channing Joseph tells the story of William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved Black man who became the earliest-known self-described drag queen.
13
Oct
21
America’s Black Queer History
In the 1880s, a formerly enslaved Black American became the earliest-known self-described “drag queen” and the earliest-known queer activist in the United States. His name was William Dorsey Swann, and he inspired a rebellious group of butlers, coachmen, and cooks—most of them also formerly en ...
21
Oct
21
Fellow Spotlight: Channing Joseph
Channing Joseph is a writer and a lecturer of Journalism at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. His academy project, “House of Swann: Where Slaves Became Queens — and Changed the World” (Crown and Picador, forthcoming), is a n ...