Lit Chat Interview with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist Kevin Sack

Few people beyond South Carolina’s Lowcountry knew of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston—Mother Emanuel—before the tragic events on the night of June 17, 2015. Although the shooter had targeted Mother Emanuel to agitate racial strife, he could not have anticipated the aftermath or the out­pouring of forgiveness from victims’ families.

Kevin Sack is a veteran journalist and Jacksonville native who has written about national affairs for more than four decades and has been part of three Pulitzer Prize–winning teams. His debut book, Mother Emanuel, is a sweeping history of the first AME church in the South and a profound story of courage and grace amid the fight for racial justice. 

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a graduate of Duke University, Kevin Sack spent thirty years on the staff of The New York Times, where he specialized in writing long-form narrative and investigative reports, often related to race. He also has written for the Los Angeles Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine. He was a 2019 Emerson Collective Fellow at New America. 

Interviewer Isaiah Oliver is the third president of The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, Florida’s oldest and one of its largest community foundations, established in 1964. He leads a seasoned 30-person team that manages more than $700 million in assets and distributed over $85 million in grants in 2024. Isaiah’s commitment to community leadership is evident through his service on the Jacksonville Civic Council and as Co-Chair of the Jacksonville Transformation Coalition. Nationally, he serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for CFLeads and holds board or advisory roles with the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, ABFE (Association of Black Foundation Executives), Independent Sector, and the Council on Foundations Public Policy Advisory Committee. A Fellow of the inaugural class of the Civil Society Fellowship—a partnership of the AntiDefamation League and The Aspen Institute—Isaiah is also a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.  

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