Chris Benson

cdbenson - at - uiuc.edu

Education

J.D., Georgetown University Law Center
M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Journalism)
B.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Journalism)

Affiliations

Associate Professor in Journalism
Associate Professor in African American Studies

Course Specialties

Magazine Writing (Journalism)
Hate Crimes (African American Studies)
Blacks and the Press (African American Studies)

Background

Benson has worked as a city hall reporter in Chicago for WBMX-FM and as features editor and Washington editor for Ebony magazine. He also has written for Chicago, Savoy, Jet and Crisis magazines and has contributed to The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and Reader's Digest. Additionally, Benson has served as vice president and associate counsel of Johnson Publishing Company, where his responsibilities included the startup and U.S. management oversight of Ebony South Africa magazine. He also has worked as a promotional writer and as a speechwriter for Washington, D.C., politicians, including former U.S. Representative Harold Washington and former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairman Clarence Thomas and as press secretary for former U.S. Representative Cardiss Collins.

Research/Creative Endeavor

Benson is co-author with Mamie Till-Mobley of her memoir, "Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America" (Random House, October 2003), about the life and death of Mrs. Mobley's son, Emmett Till, and the history-making changes that followed. The book won the 2004 BlackBoard Nonfiction Book of the Year Award and the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Special Recognition. Benson also was a co-writer and associate producer of the WTTW Channel 11 documentary, "Paper Trail: 100 Years of the Chicago Defender," first broadcast by the Chicago PBS station in June 2005. He was honored with two of the documentary's three 2005-2006 regional Emmy Awards and with the 2005 Peter Lisagor Award for exemplary journalism (documentary). Recently, Benson wrote Matt Damon's narration script for the documentary feature, "Running the Sahara," which was screened at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival and scheduled for summer 2008 release. He also edited "Don't Block the Blessings: Revelations of a Lifetime," Patti LaBelle's New York Times bestseller and NAACP Image Award-winner, written with Laura Randolph (Riverhead/Putnam, October 1996).