A jazz saxophonist, an economist, two novelists, a choreographer, a visual artist and a public artist are among this year's 20 "genius grant" recipients.

Seven Black creatives and scholars have been named 2026 MacArthur Fellows. They join a class of 20 artists, scientists and scholars chosen this year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for its awards, widely known as "genius grants."

The Washington Post reported the full class on Tuesday. The seven are saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins, economist Ellora Derenoncourt, visual artist Rodney McMillian, choreographer Trajal Harrell, novelists Bryan Washington and Maaza Mengiste, and public artist Chip Thomas.

Each fellow will receive $800,000 with no conditions attached, paid in quarterly installments over five years. The foundation says the money is meant to give recipients the freedom to follow their own creative and intellectual paths, however they choose.

The youngest fellow

Wilkins, 29, is the youngest member of this year's class. He was born in Philadelphia and now lives in Brooklyn. His music uses jazz to explore memory, ancestry and the historical experience of Black Americans. The MacArthur Foundation says his work reaches beyond the bandstand into performance and visual composition.

The roots of the wealth gap

Derenoncourt is an associate professor of economics at Princeton University. She studies labor markets, economic history and inequality. Her research traces racial gaps in earnings, economic mobility and wealth between Black and white Americans back to their historical origins.

Art about belonging

McMillian is an artist in Los Angeles and a professor at UCLA. He works in sculpture, painting, installation, video and performance. His art looks at how history, race, class and economic conditions shape who gets to belong in America, with particular attention to the South.

Fiction about Ethiopia

Mengiste is a novelist and professor at Wesleyan University. She draws on history, memory and imagination to show what political violence costs ordinary people. Her novel Beneath the Lion's Gaze is set in Ethiopia as Emperor Haile Selassie's reign collapses. The Shadow King follows women who fought against Italy's occupation of Ethiopia.

From voguing to the world stage

Harrell is an American dancer and choreographer based in Zürich, Switzerland. He became known internationally for work that brings together voguing, the dance style that grew out of Black and Latino ballroom culture, and postmodern dance. He also draws on other dance traditions to explore history, identity and the body.

A doctor turned public artist

Thomas is a former physician who lives in Flagstaff, Arizona. His public art is built around community, history, place and memory. Much of it is made with Diné communities on the Navajo Nation, where he has put up large photographs and murals on abandoned buildings and other overlooked places. His work also deals with the lasting effects of colonial violence and environmental damage.

Stories of family and intimacy

Washington is a novelist who lives in Tokyo. His books include Lot, Memorial and Family Meal. His fiction looks at modern relationships, family and intimacy, and it has won several major literary honors.

A wide range of work

Taken together, the seven honorees work in jazz, contemporary dance, economics, visual art, public art and fiction. What they share is a commitment to history, memory and the lives of people who are too often overlooked, and the MacArthur Foundation is now backing that work for the next five years.