SAMANTHA LATSON
Freelance Journalist
Samantha Latson holds a master’s degree in journalism from Indiana University and earned a bachelor’s at Roosevelt University. A three-time winner of the National Association of Black Journalists’ “Salute To Excellence Award, she was a reporter and editor on her undergraduate capstone project, “Unforgotten 51,” which garnered wide acclaim. In July 2023, she won second place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists for Social Justice commentary for her work on the project, “Invasion of Faith,” about one church’s fight to save the soul of a violent city. She is completing a reporter-internship on the Metro desk at The Washington Post as a Ben Bradlee Fellow and worked as an Ida B. Wells fellow at the Post in summer 2022 on its investigative team as an intern.
UNFORGOTTEN PROJECT FEATURED ON WGN NEWS & NABJ 2021 COLLEGIATE SALUTE TO EXCELLENCE WINNER
Journalist
Welcome to my personal website and blog, with articles geared towards investigative reporting and social justice stories
SOUNDING THE ALARM: THE CASE OF MISSING AND MURDERED BLACK AND BROWNN WOMEN
INVASION OF FAITH
Faith V. Violence: A Chicago Story
IS A NEW JEFFREY DAHMER STORY REALLY WORTH IT?
October 11, 2022
It was close to midnight recently when I turned on the television to watch with angst—more for inquiry as a writer than any interest or attraction to the grisly real-life horror—the newly released Netflix series, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.”
I was scrolling on Twitter when I stumbled across a trending tweet: “Let’s not romanticize Jeffrey Dahmer just because he is played by Evan Peters. Remember the victims.”
DANVILLE COMMUNITY MOURNS AS JELANI DAY TAKES FINAL JOURNEY AT ALMA MATER
October 20, 2021
Hundreds of mourners filed through the hallway of Danville High School, taking a journey filled with photos of the life of Jelani Day.
TEARS FOR JELANI; TEARS FOR ME
October 14, 2021
Like so many of us who attend predominantly white academic institutions in mostly white towns, Jelani and his case caused, for me, ripples of concerns about my own safety. And the absence of answers about what happened to Jelani triggers within me a million questions, some of them formulated by the context of my own traumatic DNA.
‘WHEN WILL THE REVOLUTION COME FOR MY PEOPLE FROM WITHIN?’
By Samantha Latson
Chicago Sun-Times
May 3, 2021
It is so disheartening to wake up to the news that yet another Black child has been murdered — not at the hand of a white policeman, but by a hand that looks like mine.
CHICAGO PRIEST PFLEGER REINSTATED; ‘IT’S GOOD TO BE HOME’
June 23, 2021
“We’ve saved the whales, we’ve saved the birds, but our children are becoming extinct. We must save our children!”
GWENDOLYN WILLIAMS AND OTHER MURDERED WOMEN WHOSE LIVES MATTERED
By John W. Fountain and Samantha Latson
Unforgotten: The Untold Story of Murdered Chicago Women
January 9, 2021
Gwendolyn Williams was a protector, a loyal big sister with a “heart of gold,” true-blue. She was Rosa Mae Pritchett’s firstborn. No matter how old she got, Gwen was always her baby girl.
Gwen’s sturdy light-caramel arms could cradle a younger sibling and also hold danger at bay. She was strong, a lover, not a fighter — unless she had to be. Gwen knew the streets. Growing up in Chicago in the sixties and seventies had taught her that her little sisters and brothers needed a guardian angel.
COPING WITH LOSS: A MOTHER'S JOURNEY THROUGH GRIEF
By Samantha Latson
Unforgotten: The Untold Story of Murdered Chicago Women
December 30, 2020
It was a warm September day in 2019, and almost the end of summer. It was supposed to be a celebration of life for 12-year-old Kentayvia Blackful who was turning 13 on the morning after. But for her parents Kentnilla, 34, and Trenton Blackful, 34, who were planning for their daughter’s birthday party, a stray bullet that struck Kentayvia in the head altered those plans and forever changed their lives. Kentayvia died the following day on Sept. 25, her birthday, having succumbed to her injuries a day after being shot.
"YOU'RE DEAD: SO WHAT?"; AUTHOR SAYS TELLING THEIR STORIES MATTERS
By Samantha Latson
Unforgotten: The Untold Story of Murdered Chicago Women
December 30,2020
Cheryl Neely can remember just like it was yesterday, laughing and talking while riding the Grandriver Avenue bus with her childhood fro iend Michelle Jackson and her own two sisters, while leaving Murray-Wright High School in Detroit. Seeing Michelle was part of her daily routine. After school Cheryl, Neely’s sisters and Michelle would all meet at the bus stop to go home.
On Tuesday, Jan. 24, 1984, the lives of Neely, and her sisters Suane and Cassandra would change forever. That was the date that Michelle, 16, was murdered and raped while on her way to school.
TEARS & REFLECTIONS IN A YEAR OF TELLING "THEIR" STORY
By Samantha Latson
Unforgotten: The Untold Story of Murdered Chicago Women
December 30. 2020
“Nobody cares, nobody gives a damn…” It was a weeping voice filled with frustration and anguish. I looked at the face of a black man crying in front of his students. A man not worried about pride or embarrassment, but worried about the 51 lives who are so often left forgotten.
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CHICAGOANS MARCHING UNITED IN PROTEST OVER MURDER OF GEORGE FLOYD
By Samantha Latson
Chicago Crusader
June 13. 2020
Loud cries and chants filled downtown Chicago streets, voices of a new generation lifting toward the sky- scrapers in this town where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once marched for freedom and equality, which for African Americans nationwide remains an American dream.
“Say their names,” protestors chanted. “Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery...”
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I CARRIED A PICTURE OF A CLASSMATE IN MY HEART AS I RODE A BUS TO A WASHINGTON RALLY AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE
Oct 10. 2019
As the caravan of buses pulled away from 78th Street, I felt a sense of unity in Chicago. As we passed South Side corners, heading to the Dan Ryan Expressway, car horns honked in solidarity with our overnight journey.
