Mr. Jesse J. Holland, Race and Ethnicity writer for the Associated Press, will give the keynote address during Jarvis Christian College’s 2018 Spring Commencement ceremonies at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 5, 2018, in the E.W. Rand Center on the College campus.

Mr. Holland is the author of “Black Panther: Who is the Black Panther?” a companion novel to Marvel’s blockbuster movie, “Black Panther.”

Mr. Holland, a native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, is an award-winning journalist. His book, “The Invisibles: The Untold Story of African-American Slavery Inside The White House,” was named the 2017 silver medal award winner in U.S. History in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and one of the top history books of 2016 by Smithsonian.com.

Mr. Holland is also the author of “Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African-American History In and Around Washington, D.C.,” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- Finn's Story.” He is also the co-creator of the late, lamented comic strip, "Hippie and the Black Guy."

Mr. Holland is a former White House, Supreme Court and Congressional reporter. He teaches creative nonfiction at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, where he received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College in 2012. He also is a graduate of the University of Mississippi with a Liberal Arts degree with an emphasis in journalism and English, and the former Visiting Distinguished Professor of Ethics in Journalism at the University of Arkansas.