Rachel L. Swarns

Director, Hidden Legacies

Rachel Swarns is an associate professor of journalism and the director of  Hidden Legacies: Slavery, Race and the Making of 21st Century America, an initiative of the Arthur L. Carter Institute of Journalism at New York University. The project brings journalists, scholars, students and communities together to promote and produce research and reporting that illuminates the experiences of people of color in the United States. Swarns is the author of The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church (Random House, 2023); American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama (Amistad/Harper Collins, 2012) and a co-author of Unseen: Unpublished Black History from the New York Times Photo Archives (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2017.) In 2023, she was elected to the Society of American Historians. In 2024, she was elected to the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dionne Ford

Editor

Dionne Ford is an award-winning journalist and author. She is a co-editor of Slavery’s Descendants: Shared Legacies of Race and Reconciliation (Rutgers University Press, 2019) and the author of Go Back and Get It: A Memoir of Race, Inheritance and Intergenerational Healing (Bold Type Books, 2023.) Her work has been recognized and supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacDowell artist residency program and others. In 2023, she was appointed to the New Jersey Reparations Council, a commission established to confront and repair the state’s deep and often overlooked involvement in slavery.

Amanda Coopersmith

Research and Digital Strategy Coordinator

Amanda Coopersmith is a techie-turned-journalist thinking critically about the intersection of tech and social issues. She holds a Master’s Degree from NYU Journalism in Cultural Reporting and Criticism and a B.S. in Product Design from Stanford University.

Leah Modigliani

Director of Development and Strategic Innovation

Leah Modigliani is the founder of Modigliani Capital Partners. Prior to starting her own firm, Leah was a senior investment associate at Bridgewater Associates and senior vice president at Neuberger Berman. She also served as the executive director and US strategist in the research department of Morgan Stanley. She is president of the board of Youth Communication, a nonprofit that promotes youth literacy and civic engagement through youth-led media.

Victoria M. Walker

Graduate Research Assistant

Victoria M. Walker is an award-winning travel writer and the curator of the “Carrying On” newsletter (formerly known as “Travel With Vikkie.”) She is a special correspondent for AFAR Magazine and contributes to The New York Times Real Estate section and Upgraded Points. She has held positions at The Washington Post, Howard University and The Points Guy and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Literary Reportage at NYU Journalism.