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George Washington professor, KC native's racial hoax claim stokes anger

Jessica-Krug-blog-on-Medium
Posted at 9:34 PM, Sep 04, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-04 22:34:09-04

WASHINGTON — George Washington University is investigating the case of a history professor who allegedly admitted to fraudulently pretending to be a Black woman for her entire career.

In a blog post that has gained international attention, a writer claiming to be Jessica Krug, a GW associate professor of history, writes that she is in fact a white Jewish woman from suburban Kansas City.

The writer claims that she has lived most of her adult life “under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness.”

The post caused a furor on social media, with Black academics, writers and activists recalling their interactions with Krug.