WASHINGTON, DC – (February 7, 2024) Leah Wright Rigueur has joined CNN as an on-air contributor, the network announced today. Rigueur is currently the SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and will bring her expertise on the contemporary American political environment and its history, the American presidency, and race and civil rights to CNN’s on-air programming.
From 2020 to 2023, Rigueur was an ABC News contributor. She also hosted the critically acclaimed and award-winning podcast “Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till-Mobley”. In 2023, the National Podcasting Academy named Rigueur the “Best Podcasting Host of the Year” for her work on “Reclaimed”.
Rigueur is the author of the award-winning book The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power. She is also working on a new book, Black Collar Criminals, which explores political corruption, scandal, and the origins of the crisis of modern American democracy. Rigueur’s research, writing and commentary on politics, race and American democracy have been featured in numerous outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, POLITICO, NPR, CBS, NBC and PBS.
