Popular Liberal Activist Admits Faking Being Black

Hannah Gann, a Philadelphia teacher and activist, has admitted she spent years claiming Palestinian and Black heritage she does not have. In an Instagram statement last week she said she is a “white woman of significant privilege and wealth” with no Palestinian or Tunisian ancestry.

A follow-up video said she deceived “everyone” in her life. “There is not a single person on this planet, no friend, no fellow organizer, no one in my family, no professional connection, no secret op or handler who knew what I was doing,” she said.

Commenters labeled her the “Palestinian Rachel Dolezal” and “Temu Rachel Dolezal,” a reference to the former NAACP chapter president exposed as white. Gann said she still backed the causes she joined and called her own story “a sick, deluded distraction.”

Fellow Philadelphia teacher Keziah Ridgeway said Gann lied to her for nearly a decade. Ridgeway said she first knew Gann as someone “speaking up for the Black community, for the Palestinian community,” and only later heard shifting family stories that did not hold up.

The Philly Palestine Coalition prepared an internal report. The Philadelphia Inquirer said the grandfather Gann described as Palestinian-born was born in Baltimore and that she has relatives in Israel. Ridgeway said Gann hung up on her father when pressed to put him on the phone.

Philly Educators for Palestine and the Racial Justice Organizing Committee said they were “stunned, saddened and angered by this betrayal.” After more than an hour of questions, they said, “Hannah finally admitted she lied.” They asked her to state publicly that she “is a white woman of Jewish heritage and an Israeli settler family” and banned her from their spaces.

Gann teaches at the Workshop School. A district spokesperson said officials were aware of the posts and were offering support to staff and students. Gann declined further comment to NBC News beyond the video.

The groups said they would not let her conduct rewrite their work. The admission ends the identity she used in those rooms. It does not settle what the organizations do with years of campaigns that included her.