Krissah Williams Thompson (born 1979) is an American journalist at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. In 2020, Thompson was named the Managing Editor of Diversity and Inclusion, and is the first African American woman to hold the position of Managing Editor at ''The Washington Post''.

Early life and education

Thompson is from

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. She was interested in journalism from a young age, joining ''

The Daily Texan ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and is among th ...

'' as a freshman at The University of Texas. She earned her undergraduate degree at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. At UT-Austin Thompson was a member of the Delta Xi chapter of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

sorority and held a Chips Quinn

Freedom Forum The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) foundation dedicated to fostering First Amendment freedoms for all. The organization advances First Amendment freedoms through programs that include Today's Front Pages, the Power Shift Project, the a ...

Fellowship. She moved to the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

for her graduate studies in journalism. She joined ''

'' as a summer intern in 2001.

Research and career

Thompson has spent her entire professional career at ''The Washington Post''. She has written for Financial, National Politics and Style. She contributed to Being a Black Man, a collection of essays that covered race and Black identity. During the presidency of

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, Thompson served as an editor of Style section. She covered

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

during the second term of Barack Obama. In the aftermath of the

shooting of Michael Brown On August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Brown was accompanied by his 22-year-old male friend Dorian Johnson. Wilson, a white male Fergu ...

, Thompson was acting bureau chief during the

Ferguson unrest The Ferguson unrest (sometimes called the Ferguson uprising, Ferguson protests, or the Ferguson riots) was a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal Killing of Michael Brown, ...

. She co-led the 2018 ''The Washington Post'' video-driven programme "The N-Word Project", which encouraged readers of the Post to document and share their views of the

n-word In the English language, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...

. The N-Word Project was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

and shortlisted for an

Online Journalism Award The Online News Association (ONA), founded in 1999, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of digital journalists headquartered in Washington D.C., United States. The founding members first convened in December 1999 in Chicago. The group include ...

. In 2020, Thompson was made Managing Editor of Diversity and Inclusion at ''The Washington Post''. She is the first African American woman to hold the position of Managing Editor. At the same time, the Post announced it would hire several journalists to cover issues related to race. Thompson has said that she wants ''The Washington Post'' "to look like America and the communities we cover”.

Selected works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Krissah Living people African-American journalists The Washington Post people 21st-century American journalists University of Texas at Austin alumni University System of Maryland alumni 1979 births 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people