Yahoo News Jessica Krug, the professor who pretended to be Black, resigns from George Washington University
Jessica Krug, the embattled historian and African studies scholar who admitted last Thursday to impersonating a Black woman, has resigned from her post as an associate professor at George Washington University.
Her resignation was announced by the university in a tweet Wednesday afternoon, explaining that her classes for this upcoming semester "will be taught by other faculty members."
Krug initially shared her story on the blogging platform Medium, where she confessed that she "built her life on a violent anti-Black lie" by claiming a multiplicity of Black identities over the course of her adult and professional life, including being Afro-Caribbean and North African. Krug is, in fact, a white Jewish woman.
She attributed her appropriation of Black identities to “unaddressed mental health demons” from her childhood.
Update regarding Jessica Krug: Dr. Krug has resigned her position, effective immediately. Her classes for this semester will be taught by other faculty members, and students in those courses will receive additional information this week.
— GW University (@GWtweets) September 9, 2020
The resignation follows a joint statement from George Washington's provost and dean last week announcing that Krug's classes were cancelled.
The Department of History at George Washington also released a statement calling for her resignation and "rescinding of her tenure," saying that she "betrayed the trust of countless current and former students, fellow scholars of Africana Studies, colleagues in our department and throughout the historical discipline."
Jessica Krug: A white professor says she pretended to be Black, Afro-Latina for her entire career
Throughout her tenure, she taught courses on subjects such as African history, Caribbean immigration and the African diaspora, per a biography on George Washington's website. Her professor page is no longer accessible on the university website.
Krug was also a published writer, publishing works in Essence Magazine and authoring a book on African history in 2018. The Essence essay has since been removed from its website.
Contributing: Wyatte Grantham-Phillips, USA TODAY; The Associated Press. Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jessica Krug: George Washington professor resigns after Medium post
