Asim to be Honored by Wheaton College

Distinguished Professor in Writing, Literature and Publishing Jabari Asim will receive an honorary degree from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., during the college’s 191^st commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 16.

Asim will join attorney and educational equity and child welfare advocate Georgia Wall Gogel in receiving the honor.

“Jabari Asim and Georgia Wall Gogel have used their talents and influence to expand opportunity for some of the most vulnerable members of society and deepen our understanding of the human experience,” Wheaton President Michaele Whelan, a former Emerson College provost, said in a statement. “We are proud to celebrate their extraordinary contributions as we celebrate the Class of 2026.”

Asim, a writer, cultural critic, Guggenheim Fellow, and Pushcart Prize winner, explores race, history, and American culture through his work.

He is the author of 14 books for children and eight books for adults, including: New York Times Notable Book Yonder (2022); We Can’t Breathe (2018), which was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay; and The N Word (2004), which was a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award finalist.

Asim is a former columnist and editor at The Washington Post, where he wrote about literature, politics, and the African American experience, and is a former editor-in-chief of The Crisis, founded by W.E.B. Du Bois.