Sarah J. Jackson

@sjjphd

Prof @ Penn studying media, race, tech, feminism, politics. Author of A SECOND SIGHT (Mariner, 2026), co-author #HASHTAGACTIVISM (MIT Press, 2020) + more. Typos and opinions both mine. Co‑Director: @miccenter.bsky.social

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Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· 19d

Hello I am at the store right now what is going on here?!

A photo of a grocery salad aisle with two Taylor Farms chopped salad kits, one wedge style and the other “Mexican.” The latter is marked at 50% off. Surrounding the Taylor Farms branded kits are other salad mixes the company is linked to.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· 20d

Yes, I went cold from Twitter handle to Bsky handle on talk slides around 2022/23 and would say something pedagogical about it for folks who might be unfamiliar, but at this point I sometimes add a snarky little parenthetical right on my slides. Here's the last one which got a very hearty laugh

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· 23d

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jul 11

😩absolute best way to get me to give up and go to bed at 8pm

CURRENT STATUS
PECO has received a report of an outage at your address.
•, We were able to restore service to some customers in your area, but due to the location of the damage, you and 1,607 others are still affected by this outage.
OUTAGE CAUSE: The cause of this outage is under investigation.
ESTIMATED TIME OF RESTORATION (ETR): ?
Currently Unavailable
PECO team members are working to restore power and will provide an ETR as soon as new information becomes availah
Feedback

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jun 27

Late but IYKYK

A chaotically patterned and variously fluorescent colored Lisa Frank trapper keeper

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jun 27

This is 100% it. It’s still gorgeous. Thank you!!

1952/3 wooden tv cabinet with the doors closed. Featuring beautiful stained old wood and brass? handles

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jun 27

For everyone asking. To be clear we do not have the television that was once set inside this piece of furniture and have never seen it, so cannot confirm what it looked like, there is booze where the TV once was

Photo of beautiful wooden cabinet—they don’t make TV stands like this anymore. But where the old TV was there is liquor

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jun 27

Ok media X technology X history nerds: my partner and I use a hollowed out TV stand inherited from his grandparents to store bar supplies. Last night I noticed this diagram posted deep inside of what I assume what once were the internal electronics. Can we date it based on this? What even is this?

A complicated looking diagram of circuits and knobs — a lot of them—with minimal text including:

Andrea Radio
TELEVISION
PICTURE TUBE
SPEAKER
PLUG
RED DOT
TVBI
TUBE LOCATION
"VM2I" CHASSIS
ANDREA RADIO CORP • LONG ISLAND CITY 1, NY
Apparatus uses inventions of the United Stated Liscenced by Radio Corporation of America
Patent numbers supplied upon request.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jun 23

I picked up a physical copy of this issue of Vanity Fair just for @franklinleonard.bsky.social’s article below (which is great), but also…look at the cover

A photo of the Sports 2026 Vanity Fair cover that features a shirtless shouldering Mbappé wearing jeans and an open denim jacket u set a pea coat

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jun 19

What a time to be alive

An orange and white bus stop ad for SEPTA that reads :
Block your exes and trolls, not our aisles and doors.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jun 12

Had a very sweet pre-launch book party in Cape Town last week at #ICA26. We didn't get everyone in the photo but thanks to all who came out in the middle of such a busy conference.

A diverse group of communication scholars pose with my book A SECOND SIGHT inside a restaurant. The book cover is black with a white graphic eye and text on it. Everyone is smiling. I am standing in the middle feeling the love.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· May 31

Well here’s the cake I had made for my partner’s birthday this year. I am claiming the conceptual credit for this phenom but Jacques Pastries in Pembroke, NH gets the credit for the art and craft. All edible.

A 12” chocolate birthday cake with peanut butter buttercream featuring a lobster playing pickle ball the north maine woods, a deer, camp, boulders, two cute small dogs, a stump, a bird, and a cocktail shaker depicted in 3D fondant. It says “Happy 45th Birthday David”

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· May 14

Now that I have A Second Sight to add to the stack I did a little red carpet flashing lights photo shoot for all my book babies, and by “red carpet flashing lights” I mean office desk institutional lamp from the 80s. But aren’t they beautiful

A photo of a stack of books. All of which I’ve written which I’m sure was at least one of my ancestors wildest dream. On top is #HashtagActovism: Networks of Race & Gender Justice coauthored by Moya Bailey and Brooke Foucault Wells. It has a cream cover and an image of interlocked multicolor hashtags across the front. In the middle is Black Celebrity Racial, Politics and the Press, my very first book, it has a dark blue cover and binding with white text. On the bottom and most recent is the hardcover of A Second Sight: How the Wonder & Vision of Black Mediamakers Push America Towards Freedom. It has a black and white cover and a red white and blue star on the binding. The books are stacked based on size and sitting on a brown wood desk with the light of a lamp shining on them.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· May 14

I love librarians so I am geeked that the folks at @libraryjournal.bsky.social have recommend my book. Don’t take my word for it, just trust the librarians, they never steer you wrong!

Review for my book, A Second Sight, showing the black and white cover with an eye, reads:

A Second Sight:
How the Wonder and Vision of Black
Mediamakers
Push America
Toward Freedom
by Sarah J. Jackson
Mariner. Jun. 2026. 320p. ISBN 9780358726500.
$32. POLITICAL SCIENCE
Jackson (media studies, Univ. of Pennsylvania; Black Celebrity, Racial Politics, and the Press: Framing Dissent) has written a comprehensive survey of Black media, including print, photography, and film. She argues that white counterparts have "consistently misrepresented" Black Americans' lives and that white authorities have often suppressed Black expression. The author highlights the historic roles of Frederick Douglass and W. E. B. Du Bois. Jackson also recognizes notable exceptions, such as Gordon Parks's decadeslong work for Life magazine and the apologies issued by the Kansas City Star and the Los Angeles Times for past injustices. The concept of "second sight" suggests recognizing that Black life in America is "profoundly unequal [to white life] and that it is also joyful, loving, and full of possibility." Jackson contrasts mainstream white media with the film Summer of Soul and the unrealized Afrocentric ideal of sankofa, a Twi word meaning "to go back and fetch what has been erased, suppressed, or distorted," which is central to filmmakers associated with the "LA Rebellion."
VERDICT This book reveals episodes in the history of Black media involving surprising, if not consistent suppression; reactions to Nikole Hannah-Jones's The 1619 Project might confirm Jackson's thesis.
Recommended.
Reviewed by Zachary Irwin, Apr 10, 2026

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Apr 27

Had an absolutely incredible time last week at the Race and Media conference hosted by leedsunimedia.bsky.social. Can’t tag all the brilliant folks in this photograph but so appreciate the organizers for giving us space to have urgent conversations that are being sidelined elsewhere.

A group photo on the steps of a university building. In the background is a mix of gothic and modern architecture. In the foreground is a multi-ethnic, multi-generational group of scholars from all over the world smiling.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Apr 13

My latest book haul looking beautiful @chanda.blacksky.app @durba.bsky.social @profferguson.bsky.social

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Mar 13

Thank you to @aestheticspolitics.bsky.social for sending this to me from the archives this week

A photo of a Gwendolyn Brooks poem titled “Paul Robeson” it reads:

Paul Robeson
BY GWENDOLYN BROOKS
That time
we all heard it, cool and clear,
cutting across the hot grit of the day.
The major Voice.
The adult Voice forgoing Rolling River,
forgoing tearful tale of bale and barge and other symptoms of an old despond.
Warning, in music-words devout and large,
that we are each other's
harvest:
we are each other's
business:
we are each other's
magnitude and bond.

Gwendolyn Brooks, 'Paul Robeson' (1970)

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Mar 8

If you are an Alabama resident here is the sample call script

Sample Phone Script
"Hello, my name is _
and | live in
_. I'm calling to ask Governor
Ivey to grant clemency for Mr. Charles Burton. As Alabamians we must demand better of our judicial system, and we must do our best to right our previous wrongs.
Executing a man who did not kill anyone, while the triggerman's sentence was commuted to life without parole, is unjust and I believe it goes against the will of the people of Alabama. I respectfully urge you to ask Governor Ivey to closely review Mr.
Burton's case and consider granting clemency by commuting his sentence to life without parole. Thank you for your time and service to our state."
Contact Information:
Governor Kay Ivey's Office: (334) 242- 7100

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Mar 8

Please take a moment, please, to call Gov. Ivey at 334-242-7100 with the following message provided by Death Penalty Action

"Hi. My name is [your name]. I am calling on Gov. Ivey to grant mercy to Sonny Burton who is set to be executed on March 12, 2026. Not only does the State of Alabama admit that he was not the killer and received a grossly disproportionate sentence compared to the actual killer, but Sonny's health is deteriorating rapidly. Crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis leaves him reliant on a wheelchair and a high fall risk.
He even wears a helmet to protect his head during falls. Killing Sonny will not serve the people of Alabama. Please commute his sentence."

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Mar 4

The most surreal part of the pub day was our launch event at The Strand in NYC just 4 days before the COVID-19 state of emergency was called. Folks had started to worry about attending but no one had any idea what we were about to face, we shook hands, signed books, breathed all over each other.

And audience sits in folding wooden chairs, their backs to the camera. They listen to three women sitting on director’s style chairs talking about the book the wrote together and flanked by tall bookshelves.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Mar 4

It’s the 6th anniversary of the publication of #HashtagActivism. Much has changed about social media since @moyazb.bsky.social @foucaultwelles.bsky.social and I started researching the site formerly known as Twitter over a decade ago. Forever grateful we were on the ride together.

A photo of a stack of off-white books with a char of colorful hashtags across the cover. The cover reads #HashtagActivism
Networks of Race and Gender Justice
SARAH J. JACKSON
MOYA BAILEY
BROOKE FOUCAULT WELLES
FOREWORD BY GENIE LAUREN

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Mar 2

Well today in AI scams targeting authors. I received an email claiming to want to include my book in a book club. Not only do all the photos of authors they claim to work with look AI generated but look at @colsonwhitehead.com and @zadiesmith.bsky.social and then look at these photos

A screenshot from a scam website targeting authors that claims to work with Zadie Smith and Colson Whitehead both of whom are Black people but the photos of them are AI generated generic white people

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Feb 15

Anyway here’s the card I gave my partner for Valentine’s yesterday

My tan-ish hand with bright coral nail polish holding a plain white card that just says: You’re the best thing I’ve found on the internet.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Feb 13

grateful to be in a packed room of folks listening carefully to Georgia Fort on journalism and democracy. The canaries in the coal mine should be heard: “are journalism schools teaching how to report in an authoritarian regime? No, but independent journalism has been on the front lines of this.”

Photo from the back of a dark packed room with Georgia Fort on stage under The Atlantic and Knight Foundation logos

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Feb 1

This is who runs this account

A little brown girl (me as a kid) wearing hand-me-downs (black Mary Jane shoes, white tights and a blue dress with a pink ribbon) absorbed in reading a National Geographic magazine with pink ponytail holders in her hair. She sits in a big chair covered by an orange and tan afghan her grandmother crocheted.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jan 28

Thrilled to have galleys of my book in hand! Final corrections & index pending. Please consider preordering, gifting, & teaching. Via the archive, interviews & more I show how the crisis we face now reflects failure to listen & act on the democracy Black folks have envisioned, but we still can.

Two copies of a black, white and red book cover. The cover reads
UNCORRECTED PROOF
NOT For SALE

SECOND SIGHT: HOW THE WONDER AND VISION OF
BLACK MEDIAMAKERS
PUSH AMERICA
TOWARD FREEDOM

SARAH J. JACKSON

My light brownish hand with chipped purple glitter nail polish holds the books

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Jan 19

I understand. I think about this Mary Oliver poem a lot 💜

Mary Oliver The Uses of Sorrow
(In my sleep I dreamed this poem)
Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Dec 8

December 2025 Monday morning timelines be like…

Monica reposts @Catbus sharing a photo of a gingerbread cookie guillotine with the caption “I’m brimming with holiday spirit” just below that @kjephd replies to a post about Palantir and billionaires wanting public hangings with “Return of the guillotine is equally likely”

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Dec 2

Got my first pass pages!!! It’s coming!

A photo of my hand with pink glitter nail polish on the printed first pass pages for my book:
А
SECOND
SIGHT
HOW THE WONDER AND VISION OF
BLACK MEDIAMAKERS
PUSH AMERICA
TOWARD FREEDOM
SARAH J. JACKSON
MARINER BOOKS
New York Boston

Sarah J. Jackson@sjjphd· Nov 10

Got new book mail 🥰✊🏽 thanks to @haymarketbooks.org