MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Roy Wilson remembers marching with his family before the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. More than 60 years later, the 77-year-old answered the nationwide call to action this weekend as hundreds mobilized across Selma and Montgomery against the direct attacks on the voting protections he fought for as a teenager. […]
Culture
Posted inHistory, Money
Charleston’s Gullah Geechee Community Demand 7,000 Acres in Reparations
Marcus McDonald’s roots run deep on both his sides of his family in Charleston, South Carolina. He’s a descendant of the Boone Hall Plantation, where his ancestors in his father’s family were once held captive. They come from a line of Gullah Geechee people, the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were enslaved […]
Posted inCulture
5 Black Designers to Watch Out For at the 2026 Met Gala
Black designers helped shape one of fashion’s biggest nights last year, but will their creations get the same red carpet treatment again? The highly anticipated 2026 Met Gala takes place May 4 and is co-chaired by iconic Black women such as Beyoncé and Venus Williams. Misty Copeland, Doja Cat, Teyana Taylor, A’ja Wilson, and Angela […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Culture, Juvenile Justice, Policing, Politics & Policy
Black Teens Called ‘Radioactive’ as D.C. Cuts Programs Meant to Help Them
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Youth advocate Kawana Billy nearly jumped out of her chair listening to the way a white D.C. Council member described Black youth in Washington. To him, they were “dangerous” and “radioactive,” and at one point, he alleged young people carry guns and scare residents. “It’s very interesting how folks are using these […]
Posted inCulture, History, Incarceration
In New Orleans, Black Cowboy Tradition Collides With Prison Rodeo Spectacle
NEW ORLEANS — Outside, along Claiborne Avenue in the Algiers section of New Orleans, Sunday looked familiar. Black children slurped snowballs in the street, adults danced around them, and Black riders eased their horses through the crowds, past corner stores and shotgun houses, hooves clapping against the asphalt. For Black riders like Robert Pollar, who […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Religion
Trump’s Clash With the Pope Is Raising Alarm in Black Churches
Religion is being weaponized — and some Christians are outraged. This was one of the main takeaways from the Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain’s group chat with other Chicago faith leaders following President Donald Trump’s tirade against Pope Leo XIV. Trump this week accused Leo of being “terrible for Foreign Policy” and “WEAK on crime” because of […]
Posted inHBCUs, Sports
HBCUs Say They Stand to Lose Out if College Athlete Pay Rules Don’t Change
When Trayvean Scott was a college basketball player at Southern University in the 2000s, he says, he was never asked to throw a game in return for a payout. But more than 20 years later, he worries that the lack of a uniform policy about student athletes getting paid for their name, image or likeness […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
The Supreme Court Fight That Could Unravel Who Gets to Be American
With birthright citizenship — which was enshrined in the 14th Amendment to clarify the legal status of Black Americans following the Civil War — on the chopping block, civil rights groups are on high alert for threats to all rights, even those long seen as safe. There’s concern that a decision undermining birthright citizenship “could […]
Posted inHBCUs, Sports
After Breaking Barriers, Fisk Is Ending Its Gymnastics Program
When Liberty Mora stepped into the gym at the Super 16 gymnastics meet in Las Vegas with her Fisk University teammates to compete for the first time in 2023, the crowd rose to its feet before they even began. For a moment, the significance hit all at once: They weren’t just competing — they were […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
U.S. Votes No as UN Calls Slave Trade ‘Gravest Crime’ and Backs Reparations
The United States joined Israel and Argentina on Thursday in voting against a Ghana-led resolution that declared the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans the “gravest crime against humanity” and urged countries to pursue reparations. The nonbinding measure, backed by more than 120 nations, calls for formal apologies, compensation, and other forms of reparatory justice for […]