Empowering the World's Documentarians

Jarrad Henderson

(He/Him)

Visual Journalist, Filmmaker, and Educator

Detroit, Michigan US

About

Jarrad Henderson has missed more moments than he’s captured but still chases them enthusiastically every day. He can best be described as a multimedia alchemist and respected industry leader who seeks to democratize journalism by empowering diverse voices to share their stories. A 4x Emmy Award-winning visual journalist and inspirational educator, Jarrad has produced impactful content in large newsrooms for over a decade. Motivated by his commitment to providing safe learning environments, he has inspired countless students to pursue their love for visual storytelling. He currently exercises his curiosity as a 2022 Knight-Wallace fellow, a program hosted at the Knight-Wallace Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan. As a mentor, Jarrad helps underserved communities pursue their dreams of becoming visual storytellers through his roles as a multimedia judge at the Hearst Journalism Awards Program, as a past Academic Representative for the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Board of Directors, and as a member of the Filmmaker Development Council for the Video Consortium. As an educator, Jarrad has been described as a relatable, energetic presenter able to simplify complex concepts into digestible pieces. He is at his best when teaching students how to research, document, edit and share stories as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies. Jarrad credits his mentors and organizations like NABJ for being a catalyst in his professional development and a source of inspiration to pass along the torch. In his previous role as Senior Multimedia Producer at USA Today, Jarrad’s work was honored by organizations such as the Robert F. Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism, Livingston Awards for Young Journalists, Sidney Hillman Foundation, News Leaders Association, and National Press Photographers Association. His curriculum and mobile documentary storytelling pop-up workshops which will bring tools and education directly to underrepresented communities. When he is not teaching or creating, Jarrad can be found at your local roller-skating rink, jamming to his favorite 90s R&B and Hip Hop hits.

Featured Work

Behind The Blue Wall of Silence

Victims of police brutality and their families are often alone in their fight for facts against power law enforcement agencies. They are typically met with silence. That’s because there’s an unwritten rule at the heart of police misconduct: officers don’t snitch on one another. Police whistleblowers who breach the blue wall of silence have faced devastating consequences. They’ve been investigated, fired and jailed. Departments across the country have adopted an unofficial system of retaliation that allows misconduct to persist and helps police leaders avoid accountability. From the Louisiana bayou to suburban Illinois to the Oregon coast, a USA TODAY documentary shows how this system has impacted families, whistleblowers and many others seeking police reform.

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Boots on The Ground

For six weeks in early 2021, USA TODAY visual journalists Jarrad Henderson and Harrison Hill relocated to Minneapolis. They, like scores of other journalists, were there for the trial of Derek Chauvin. But unlike so many others, Henderson and Harrison didn’t head to the courthouse. They went into the neighborhoods and communities where George Floyd had lived, where memorials to him lined the streets, where supporters chanted his name, where demonstrators gathered every day to press for change. Henderson and Harrison immersed themselves in that landscape, capturing intimate moments, stirring interviews, and shocking footage.

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1619: The Long Road Home

Wanda Tucker, a 61-year-old African American, is trying to document an audacious claim: that her family, the Tuckers of Tidewater Virginia, are directly descended from the first child born to the first Africans to arrive on the mainland of English America 400 years ago. While it's almost impossible to trace the lineage of the first recorded black birth in what would become the United States, the Tuckers believe that legacy belongs to them. For Wanda, the path back to Angola represents a spiritual journey, filled with conflict and doubt. Her journey is the dream of millions of African Americans: to connect with their history and walk the path of their ancestors.

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Inside Look at Google's CSSI HBCU Program

CSSI is not your average summer camp. It's an intensive, interactive, hands-on, and fun program that seeks to inspire the tech leaders and innovators of tomorrow by supporting the study of computer science, software engineering, and other closely-related subjects. During the program, cohorts of students from geographically-similar HBCUs participate in a three-week residential program hosted at various HBCUs where they’ll be taught an introduction to computer science by Google engineers. Through an engaging and hands-on curriculum, students develop a solid foundation of computational thinking, which prepares them for their future studies in Computer Science. The program finishes with a capstone project where students develop an application, so they have the tangible proof of what they’re able to achieve.

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