Ninety years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and South Carolina Gov. Ibra Blackwood worked together to bring electricity to rural South Carolina. But to build the power plant that would make it happen, they destroyed the homes of 900 Black sharecropping families. With them, 6,000 graves — including those of formerly enslaved people — were […]
Adam Mahoney
Adam Mahoney is the climate and environment reporter at Capital B. He can be reached by email at adam.mahoney@capitalbnews.org, on Bluesky, and on X at @AdamLMahoney.
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Why Saving This Stop on the Underground Railroad Is an Act of Climate Justice
In 2023, Capital B profiled the film festival opening of The Aunties, a short film about a Black couple who own and preserve Harriet Tubman’s family lands. On Monday, February 17, 2025, the film publicly premiered on the Black Public Media YouTube Channel for Black History Month. On murky nights, when dullness stole the sky […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, History
A Black Family Now Owns the Site of America’s Largest Slave Revolt
ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH, La. — Growing up, Dayna James never thought she’d willingly step foot on a plantation, let alone thank God for one. On an early Saturday morning last month, she joined about 80 other people to commemorate America’s largest slave revolt at the Woodland plantation in LaPlace, Louisiana, where nearly 500 […]
Posted inClimate Change, Housing, Wealth Gap
In Altadena, Black Households Were Most Likely to Burn, Study Finds
The Jones family lost their home of 55 years on Altadena’s foothills. They were far from the only ones. The Eaton Fire that exploded in early January tore through more than 9,000 structures in the heart of Altadena, devastating a historically Black neighborhood that had persevered for generations through discrimination and, more recently, gentrification. A […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Politics & Policy, Wealth Gap
Severe Weather Is Increasing the Cost of Living for Black Americans
As Los Angeles battled its largest wildfires in history, parts of the southern U.S. faced a very different kind of disaster — record-breaking snowstorms not seen in over 125 years. In LA, the Benn family didn’t lose their home to the flames, but they did lose access to their livelihood. Their screen-printing business, which they’ve […]
Posted inClimate Change, Public Safety
Why Were Black Altadena Residents Not Warned to Evacuate in Time?
A faint glow flickered behind the canyon ridges, and at first, it felt like a threat no different from fires past. Inside one home, Erliene Kelley, an 83-year-old grandmother, believed, as it had always gone over her 57 years in Altadena, that it would never roll down the hill toward homes. This time, however, the […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
Trump’s Fossil Fuel Agenda Puts Black Communities at Risk
President Donald Trump reversed progress on climate change and reinforced his commitment to fossil fuels on Monday. While his campaign fanned the flames of culture wars and economic propaganda, his return to D.C. has already rolled back climate progress and put Black communities even more at risk. He signed executive orders pulling the United States […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Health, Money, Public Safety
Generational Black Homes in LA Reduced to Ash Amid Growing Wildfires
Support Black-Led, Nonprofit News Capital B is an independent news organization uncovering important stories — like this one — about how Black people experience America today. But we can’t tell these stories without your help. If you support our mission, please consider becoming a member by making a tax-deductible donation. Sixty-two years burned to ashes for […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Incarceration
‘We Need Everyone’: How Two Formerly Incarcerated Firefighters Are Building a Movement
This story originally published in 2022, but has been updated to reflect the recent fires ravaging neighborhoods across Los Angeles County. On Jan. 8, 2025, deadly fires tore through Los Angeles County, fueled by hurricane-force winds. The Eaton and Palisades Fires, two of the most destructive in California’s history, burned about 60 square miles within […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Michael Regan Rebuilt the EPA, but Did It Deliver for Black Communities?
When the Environmental Protection Agency dropped a civil rights investigation last year and subsequently weakened the civil rights complaint process, it dealt a blow to the legacy of the first Black man to lead the agency. This decision underscored the immense challenges the agency’s former head, Michael Regan, faced during his tenure, where the weight […]