The September Transition

This fall, we welcome 10 Class of 2021 National Fellows to New America. This class of National Fellows includes writers, a filmmaker, and scholars who are dedicated to enhancing conversations around the most pressing issues of our time.

Meet the Class of 2021; watch our class video, follow them on Twitter, and read their bios and listen to their audio interviews.

This month serves as both an inflection and reflection point as we look forward to supporting the professional journey of this new class while also pausing to reflect on the impact made by last year’s class.

Since last September, the Class of 2020 has had a remarkable year. They published and produced work that will shape our understanding of a number of pressing issues including the coronavirus pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, government surveillance, and more. We have compiled a list of highlights from their fellowship year.

We hope you enjoy catching up on the work from the Class of 2020!

Highlights from the Class of 2020:

• Trevor Aaronson wrote an article for the Intercept about the FBI’s vast powers to investigate right-wing extremists.
• Jessica Bruder published a cover article for WIRED about the immigrants who took on Amazon in labor strikes.
• Josh Chin reported on China’s new national security law for Hong Kong in a video for the Wall Street Journal.
• Molly Crabapple illustrated a three-part video series for the Marshall Project about life in prison.
• Josie Duffy Rice was interviewed on Late Night with Seth Meyers about her work in criminal justice reform, the current fight for racial equality, and voter rights.
• Patricia Evangelista wrote an article for Rappler documenting the experiences of Filipinos on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Suzy Hansen wrote a feature about media censorship in Turkey for the New York Times Magazine’s special issue on the future of the internet.
• CJ Hunt was profiled by the Center for Asian American Media about his feature-length documentary The Neutral Ground, about New Orleans’ fight over monuments and America’s centuries-long relationship with the Lost Cause.
• Daniela Lamas wrote a series of op-eds for the New York Times on life in the Brigham and Women’s ICU, where she works as a pulmonary and critical care doctor, during the coronavirus pandemic.
• Vann R. Newkirk II hosted a new podcast from the Atlantic called Floodlines, about the people who survived Hurricane Katrina, and the aftermath of the storm.
• Julia Ott collaborated with FICTILIS (artist-curators Andrea Steves and Tim Furstnau) to install an October 2019 exhibition of the Museum of Capitalism at The New School.
• Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana released his documentary film Border South, which reveals the resilience, ingenuity, and humor of immigrants crossing the U.S.’s southern border as it exposes a global migration system that renders human beings invisible in life as well as death.
• David Rohde published his book In Deep: The FBI, the CIA, and the Truth about America’s “Deep State.”
• Matthew Shaer wrote an article for Slate about states that allow courts to fine teenagers, and the effects of those fines on their families.
• Clint Smith wrote an article for the Atlantic about becoming a parent in the age of Black Lives Matter.