Award-winning journalist Trymaine Lee ’03 to speak at 19th annual Rosa Parks Luncheon

Award-winning journalist and podcast host Trymaine Lee ’03 will be the keynote speaker at the 19^th annual Rosa Parks Luncheon on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at Rowan University.

Lee (at right), who earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Rowan, is the host of the “Into America” podcast for NBC News and a correspondent for MSNBC.

Open to the public, the luncheon begins at 11 a.m. in the Eynon Ballroom of the Chamberlain Student Center, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro. Tickets are $65 for general admission, $50 for students. Tickets can be purchased online.

All proceeds from the luncheon, which is sponsored by the Africana Studies program, support the Gary Hunter Memorial Scholarship, awarded to a deserving undergraduate students in the College of Humanities & Social Sciences. Hunter, a history professor who passed away in 2003, was one of the founders of Africana Studies at Rowan.

Lee was a member of the 2006 New Orleans Times-Picayune news team that won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina. He also won an Emmy for his reporting on gun violence and trauma in Chicago as part of a series and hour-long special on MSNBC.

He’s the cohost, with Charles Coleman Jr., of “Black Men in America: Road to 2024,” airing this month on MSNBC.

A past recipient of the Emerging Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists, Lee was a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine’s “1619 Project.” He has reported for numerous local and national news outlets, including The New York Times and Huffington Post.

In his talk, Lee, who grew up in Chesilhurst, will discuss his personal story, his experiences as a journalist, and his forthcoming book on race, trauma and gun violence in America.

Lee is a graduate of the Milton S. Hershey School in Hershey, Pa. At Rowan, he wrote for The Whit, Rowan’s student newspaper, and was involved in the Black Student Union. 

In 2019, he received the Medal of Excellence for Alumni Achievement and spoke at the Commencement ceremony for the Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts. Last year, he received the outstanding alumnus award from the Rowan University Black Alumni Network. 

Part of Rowan’s celebration of Black History Month, the luncheon pays tribute to Parks, widely considered the “mother of the Civil Rights movement.” Her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala. bus in 1955 helped spark the Mongomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement.

“Amplifying African American Voices through the Arts and Politics” is the theme of Black History Month this year.

For information on the luncheon, contact Denise Williams, 856-256-4818, or Julie Peterson, 856-256-4596.