Amelia Blakely

Amelia Blakely is a bright and creative journalist, photographer, and public historian. Currently, she is earning her master's in History at Middle Tennessee State University in the Public History track. She is also a graduate research assistant at MTSU's Center for Historic Preservation. Her research interests include the history of American agriculture, environment, and architecture. After graduation, her goal is to work in Cultural Resource Management. 

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Before returning to the academy, Amelia worked as a journalist and public servant. She split her time between working with the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) in college access and outreach in local rural high schools, as well as freelance journalism and photography. 
 

Amelia's journalism covers a wide range of topics, including politics, breaking news, and in-depth cultural features exploring the history of race in the Midwest. In the Gateway Journalism Review's 1857 Project, a special edition covering Missouri and Illinois' history with racism and slavery, Blakely's reporting highlighted overlooked facts about the state's history of racism. The magazine was published in July 2020 with the support of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

 

The 1857 Project received an honorable mention from the American Bar Association for a Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts in May 2021 and a 2020 Sigma Delta Chi award for excellence in journalism in the regional magazine writing category from the Society of Professional Journalists in June 2021.

Before working with ISAC, Blakely was a Communications Intern for United States Senator Tammy Duckworth and a 2020 Campus Consortium Fellow with the Pulitzer Center. Blakely values collaboration and pushing boundaries in her work. Her talents include being a swift learner and agile leader, a knack for innovative storytelling via songwriting, news reporting, multimedia production, witty humor, and an industrious work ethic.