Caitlin Dickerson shared investigative reporting and storytelling skills with Ferris students and faculty on Thursday, April 11.
Dickerson shared her story with the 17 people in attendance, including how she has taken on reporting things from mustard gas testing on soldiers to her latest investigation, the Dorian Gap, which she will publish an article about in the summer.
Dickerson currently works for The Atlantic but has previously worked for The New York Times, as well as National Public Radio. Dickerson has won several awards for her work including a Pulitzer Prize in 2023 for her explanatory reporting.
One of the stories Dickerson reported was that of mustard gas experiments that had taken place on soldiers in the U.S. military.
“When I was doing the research for this story, I knew that I was going to have to bring these mustard gas experiments to get people to care about them 50 years later,” Dickerson said. “And one of the ways that I did that was visiting the National Archives in Maryland, which is an incredible place full of really important documents and histories.”
While looking through these archives, which Dickerson described as disorganized, she discovered that these experiments were likely linked to soldiers of different races and decided to do some more digging.
“Sure enough, I eventually found evidence that eugenics science, science that has been totally debunked today, was used to justify testing based on race,” Dickerson said. “So, tests that were conducted on Japanese American troops were actually designed to figure out whether the Japanese enemies the Americans were fighting at the time would react any differently to mustard gas than Americans would.”
Dickerson also touched on her work with immigrants, some of whom were able to be reunited with their families after a law was passed preventing the separations after a lawsuit was filed.
“It’s important to point out that hundreds of these families still have not been reunited with one another,” Dickerson said. “And that even those who have been reunited are very much still struggling with the emotional fallout of what they went through. Nothing takes that away, but the result of this lawsuit was helpful and validating to many of them.
Chairman of the Arts and Lectures Committee Glen Okonoski helped decide that Dickerson should do a presentation at Ferris.
“Coming from the discipline of storytelling that happens in school digital media, but [also] our journalism program or technical communication, and thinking about the attraction that would be to students also,” Okonoski said. “What she does reporting on immigration, some of these topics, so it’s not just like she’s reported. That’s one thing but then what she reports on are topics that are extremely relevant to a broad population.”
Digital animation and game design junior Linnea Smith found an interest in the stories that Dickerson shared.
“As someone who is a history buff myself, seeing these veterans’ stories come to life and finally getting that recognition just brings me so much joy,” Smith said. “And I just love that she took the time to go the national archives and take the time to look at and research everything that was there.”
Dickerson’s closing remarks not only addressed her role in society but the audiences’ as well.
“My job is to shine a light on what’s hidden from public view, in order to further the nonpartisan values, we all share of transparency and accountability, “Dickerson said. “Don’t forget you have a job to do too. My job is to tell what’s happening in the country and your job is to decide what to do about it.”
For anyone who missed Dickerson’s presentation but is interested in learning more, Okonoski recorded the presentation and anyone who would like to watch it can contact him at GlenOkonoski@nullferris.edu.
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