WASHINGTON, D.C. — The day after Howard University’s men’s basketball team had its first-ever NCAA tournament win, students on the campus were hoping for more. But the Bison’s dreams came to an abrupt end on March 19, as the team lost to the University of Michigan 101-80. Howard kept the game close, trailing by just […]
Culture
Posted inCulture, HBCUs, Sports
At Howard, Athletes Must Stand for the Anthem or Stay in the Locker Room
For years, Howard University’s women’s basketball team has been taking a knee to protest the mistreatment and brutalization of Black Americans by law enforcement. But on Wednesday night, at a game between Howard and South Carolina State University, that tradition – which had been a source of pride for many players and students – came […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Culture
Inside BlerdCon, Where Black Nerd Culture Takes Center Stage
ARLINGTON, Virginia – William Beal II drove his prized possession, a 2016 Dodge Charger R/T, through a small makeshift entrance on South Clark Street and parked it with the other cars arriving at BlerdCon, a convention centering Black folks who are into geek culture. Wrapped in the Black Panther colors of black and vibrant purple, […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Culture, History
More Than a Singer: How Sam Cooke’s Family Built a Legacy After His Death
CLARKSDALE, Mississippi — Nicole Cooke-Johnson loaded her car full of children’s books and traveled to her grandfather’s hometown, Clarksdale, Mississippi, for the first time in her life. It was a journey as old and as common as the Great Migration. But her grandfather, Sam Cooke, was no ordinary man. Cooke, an iconic, groundbreaking recording artist […]
Posted inHealth, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy
If PrEP Coverage Disappears, Georgia’s Black Communities Could Be Hit Hardest
Cullen Smith takes an HIV preventative medication every day for “added security” and “peace of mind” after he thought he may have contracted the disease from a partner last year. “Once that situation came up, if I wanted to keep my current health, I needed to take other actions,” said Smith, an Atlanta resident. “I […]
Posted inCulture, History, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy
As Chicago Celebrates Jesse Jackson’s Life, Those He Inspired Confront What’s Next
Jeanette Taylor, the alderwoman of Chicago’s 20th Ward, first met the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 2012. At the time, she was an organizer with the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, and her executive director insisted that she meet him. Taylor was nervous: She knew his national stature, his speeches, his mystique — and “sometimes when you […]
Posted inCourts, Health, History, Science
Henrietta Lacks’ Family Reaches Settlement in Fight Over Her Stolen Cells
A long overdue reckoning for Henrietta Lacks — the Black woman whose cancer cells led to breakthroughs in the field but were harvested without her consent — has been slow but steady in recent years. It took decades for her relatives to learn that her tissue had been used for research and for them to […]
Posted inCourts, Culture, History
S.C. Court Victory Grants Gullah Geechee Temporary Access to Blocked Cemetery
Julia Scott is disappointed. Despite a judge granting her and other Gullah Geechee residents in St. Helena Island, South Carolina, access to the centuries-old Big House Cemetery, they must give the property owners — who put up a gate to block the entrance — written notice first. “It’s a start, but I am not pleased […]
Posted inCulture, Economy, Employment, Equity, History, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
The Mississippi Delta Is a Testing Ground for the Nation
The majority-Black Mississippi Delta region is shrouded in both magic and myth for many outsiders, writer and essayist W. Ralph Eubanks says. Dubbed the “Most Southern Place on Earth,” the Delta’s rich culture and blues music brings millions of tourists to the region every year. The Magnolia State broke records in 2024 when about 44 […]
Posted inCourts, Economic Development, Eminent Domain, History, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
Georgia Is Letting a Railroad Seize Land a Black Family Has Owned For 100 Years
SPARTA, Ga. — In 1850, Andrew Benjamin Tarbutton enslaved 25 people in central Georgia. A year later, he purchased more than a dozen additional people off the docks in Savannah and marched them toward his home, setting the foundation for his family’s generational wealth. Four generations later, a railroad company owned by one of his […]
