IBW congratulates veteran journalist, Black media pioneer and longtime communications leader on this distinguished honor.
The University of the West Indies will confer an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) degree on veteran journalist, media executive and communications strategist Don Rojas during graduation ceremonies at UWI’s Five Islands Campus on October 10, 2026.
The Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW/IBW21) joins colleagues, friends and admirers across the global African world in congratulating Rojas on the honor, which recognizes a career spanning more than five decades in journalism, communications, media leadership and international affairs.
Rojas, former Director of Communications and International Relations for IBW and founder of the Black World Media Network, has played a significant role in the organization’s communications work and its broader mission of connecting movements, leaders and communities across the global African world.
Born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to a Trinidadian father and Vincentian mother, Rojas was introduced to broadcasting at an early age through his father, a radio producer and broadcaster. He later migrated to the United States and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin.
His career has traversed journalism, political communications, broadcasting and the development of Black-owned and independent media institutions in the United States, the Caribbean and internationally.
In 1979, Rojas returned to the Caribbean to join the Grenada Revolution led by Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, serving as editor-in-chief of the Free West Indian and later as press secretary to the Prime Minister. His work during that period placed him at the intersection of Caribbean politics, journalism and international solidarity movements.
Following the collapse of the Grenada Revolution in 1983, Rojas continued his international media work and later returned to the United States. His leadership roles included executive editor of the New York Amsterdam News and, in 1993, the first Director of Communications for the NAACP.
As the internet emerged as a new communications frontier, Rojas founded The Black World Today, a pioneering digital publication, and Black World Radio, among the early internet radio networks created to serve Black audiences and communities of color. He later headed WBAI/Pacifica Radio in New York and served as Executive Director and CEO of Free Speech TV.
Throughout his career, Rojas has remained committed to strengthening communication and solidarity across the global African and Caribbean world. His work has connected journalism, Pan-Africanism, international affairs and the movement for reparatory justice.
Rojas also helped launch the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) and has worked with Caribbean and U.S. reparations leaders to strengthen ties between the two movements.
As founder of the Black World Media Network and through his longtime work with IBW, Rojas has continued his commitment to independent Black media and to building connections among people and movements across the African diaspora.
The UWI citation honoring Rojas describes him as a lifelong “builder of bridges” whose work has connected peoples, movements and generations through journalism and communication.
It recognizes a career devoted to ensuring that the ideas, struggles and aspirations of the global African world are carried across borders and generations.
The honorary Doctor of Letters will be conferred at The University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus on October 10, 2026.
IBW congratulates Don Rojas on this well-deserved and distinguished honor.
