White US history professor’s racial hoax claim stokes anger

George Washington University is investigating the case of a brief history professor who allegedly admitted to fraudulently pretending to be a Black woman on her behalf entire career, and said Friday that she'll not be teaching her classes this semester.

In a weblog post which has gained international attention, a writer claiming to be Jessica Krug, a GW associate professor of history, writes that she is actually a white Jewish woman from suburban Kansas City. The writer claims she has lived almost all of her adult life “under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no to claim: first North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness.”

Krug did not react to a request on her blog page for comment.

In a statement released Friday night, University Provost Brian Blake and Dean Paul Wahlbeck wrote: “Dr. Krug will never be teaching her classes this semester. We will work on creating a number of options for students in those classes, which is communicated to affected students immediately.”

The blog post related to Krug expresses deep remorse, calling the deception “the epitome of violence, of thievery and appropriation.”

The writer blames “unaddressed mental health demons” dating back again to childhood and says she frequently thought of confessing the deception, “but my cowardice was always stronger than my ethics.”

Krug’s biography on the GW website lists imperialism and colonialism and African-American history among her regions of expertise. Her writings center heavily on issues of African culture and diaspora.

The post caused an immediate furore on social media, with Black academics, writers and activists recalling their interactions with Krug.

Hari Ziyad, editor of the web publication RaceBatr, which had published Krug’s writings, wrote on Twitter that Krug had confirmed the facts of the blog post to him in a telephone call Thursday morning. He described Krug as “someone I called a pal up until today when she gave me a call admitting to everything written here.”

Ziyad wrote that Krug claimed to be Afro-Caribbean from the Bronx. He said he previously defended Krug in the past against suspicious colleagues. In retrospect, he recalls clues to the deception including her “clearly inexpert salsa dancing” and “awful NY accent.”

Krug’s public persona comes across in a video testimony to a New York City Council hearing on gentrification from June. Discussing herself as Jess La Bombalera, Krug identifies “my Black and brown siblings” in the anti-gentrification movement and criticizes “all these white New Yorkers” who “did not yield their time to Black and brown indigenous New Yorkers.”

Within their letter Friday night, addressed to the “GW Community,” Blake and Wahlbeck said: “You want to acknowledge the pain this example has caused for most inside our community and recognize that lots of students, faculty, staff and alumni are hurting. ... Please know that we are taking this example seriously and are here to aid our community.”