Unchained But Free? The effects of cumulative trauma and what it takes to heal
Journalists: LEE HAWKINS in Conversation with EMEFA ADDO AGAWU

3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
31st Street & Barclay Street
Waverly Neighborhood

A 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist, journalist LEE HAWKINS is the author of I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free, a “deeply reflective” memoir that uncovers four centuries of his family’s triumphs and tragedies while examining how generational violence and other Adverse Childhood Experiences shape lifelong health and well-being. Blending DNA sleuthing, investigative reporting, and a focus on resilience and joy, Hawkins invites readers and audiences to explore healing, justice, and non-violent change. Writer/Editor EMEFA ADDO AGAWU speaks to him about his debut work, deemed “Harrowing and insightful … A profound work about the Black experience and white oppression,” in a starred Kirkus Review. A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, where he worked for 19 years, Hawkins covers entrepreneurship, corporate, and investing worlds, focusing on the generational effects of economic discrimination, including racial covenants, land theft, and the impact of economically motivated historical homicides on families of color. “The spirit of Emmett Till lives on and is deeply embedded in our consciousness … The book encourages families to confront the trauma and triumphs of previous generations as a way to process and recover from the damaging effects of slavery and Jim Crow.” — Deborah A. Watts, Cousin of Emmett Till and Co-Founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation. Emefa Addo Agawu is an award-winning writer and editor living in Baltimore and a 2024-2025 Moynihan Public Scholar at The City University of New York.