The Signal | Interview with Alan Jenkins, author of 1/6: The Graphic Novel

Alan Jenkins is a writer, Harvard law professor, and human rights advocate. He and co-author Gan Golan, along with illustrator Will Rosado, led the creation of the graphic novel series 1/6, which asks the question: What if the Jan.6 insurrectionist attack on the US capitol had been successful? In the tradition of speculative fiction from George Orwell’s 1984 to Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, it explores themes of autocracy, scapegoating, strategic disinformation, and more, all of which we are still dealing with as a nation. Alan joins us today to talk about this really informative and critical series, which just released its second issue, and how he and his team are sending copies to schools all across Pennsylvania.

Visit: https://onesixcomicsstore.com/

Jenkins teaches courses on Race and the Law, Communication, and Supreme Court Jurisprudence. Before joining the Law School faculty, he was President and Co-Founder of The Opportunity Agenda, a social justice communication lab.

His prior positions have included Assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he represented the United States government in constitutional and other litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court; Director of Human Rights at the Ford Foundation, where he managed grantmaking in the United States and eleven overseas regions; and Associate Counsel to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where he defended the rights of low-income communities facing exploitation and discrimination. He previously served as a Law Clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun and to U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Carter.

Jenkins is a frequent commentator in broadcast, print, and digital media on topics ranging from Supreme Court decision making to racial equity to the role of popular culture in social change. His past Board service includes New York Public Radio, the Center for Community Change, the Legal Action Center, and Futuro Media Group, as well as the Board of Governors of the New School for Public Engagement. He has also served on the Selection Committee for the Sundance Documentary Fund.

Jenkins holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an M.A. in Media Studies from the New School for Public Engagement, and a B.A. in Psychology and Social Relations from Harvard College.

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• The Christian Right’s Crusade for Power and War on Democracy, with Katherine Stewart
• Kristin Kobes Du Mez on Evangelical Support for Trump and Project 2025’s Christian Nationalist and Authoritarian Designs for the Nation
• BBC News Reporter Mike Wendling on His New Book ‘Day of Reckoning: The Far Right’s War on Democracy’

The Signal is produced by Kevin Mahoney, Raging Chicken Media.

Music by Maf é Tulà and Cartas a Felice, "La Loca." Panela Music. 

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