Sidney and Iréne Dearing, along with their two small children, faced lynching and bomb threats after they settled in a “sundown town” in California in 1924. As the first Black homeowners in Piedmont, a wealthy white suburb of Oakland, they endured a racial terror campaign that included a mob of 500 people showing up on […]
Culture
Posted inSports
Your Guide to ‘Rooting for Everybody Black’ at the 2026 Winter Olympics
The 2026 Winter Olympics is in high gear in Italy, and a small contingent of Black athletes are competing on behalf of Team USA. The Winter Games are a space where representation of Black American athletes has been far less than in summer sports. Several of this year’s competitors are Olympic veterans, while others will […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Culture
Bad Bunny’s Cultural Reach Extends From Stadiums to Syllabi
For Bijou-Elyse Wallace, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance will represent more than just music. Wallace, a Howard University student and devoted fan of the Puerto Rican superstar, is getting ready to host a Super Bowl watch party for the first time ever alongside Changó, the Afro-Latin association at Howard, and the university’s student association. In […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Culture
A Black Film Just Made Oscars History With a Record 16 Nominations
Check out Capital B’s Beyond ‘Sinners’: The Stories of Clarksdale, Mississippi, a yearlong project highlighting Black residents reclaiming power and ownership in an area where Blues tourism and development have long excluded them. A decade after the #OscarsSoWhite movement, a Black director’s film has gotten the most nominations ever in the Academy Award’s nearly 100-year […]
Posted inCulture, History, Partner Content
Detroit Heard King’s Dream First. These Black Women are Carrying It Forward.
This story was originally reported by Ebony JJ Curry of The 19th. Meet Ebony and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. Detroit was the first place Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an early version of what would become his “I Have a Dream” speech. He recited it on June 23, […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
Stevie Wonder’s Battle for MLK Day and the New Challenges to King’s Legacy
Stevie Wonder’s new album, Hotter Than July, had been burning up the charts for months by Jan. 15, 1981. But something bigger than music was on the artist’s mind that day. Along with other Black cultural giants, the 30-year-old was leading a rally of approximately 100,000 people on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Years […]
Posted inHistory
As Federal Sites Remove Black History, Communities Organize to Fight Back
It all started with a QR code. When Gerry James learned this summer that signs had been posted at National Park Service sites encouraging visitors to use a QR code to report information that could be considered “negative about either past or living Americans,” he wanted to change the conservation. He felt as if the […]
Posted inHistory
National Parks Drop Free MLK Day and Juneteenth Entry, Further Erasing Black History
Alan Spears remembers visiting Gettysburg National Military Park with his parents in the 1970s. They wanted something educational, free, and fun to do with their only son, and the park was an obvious choice, given Spears’ interests — his favorite television show as a child was The Rat Patrol, about soldiers during World War II. […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Religion
Meta’s AI Data Center Sparks a Crisis in the Bible Belt Over the Power of Faith
Photo illustrations by Alexandra Watts/Capital B RICHLAND PARISH, Louisiana — Seen as far as 2 miles away, a white cross — the size of a 12-story building — welcomes you to this largely forgotten stretch of Delta country. While cotton no longer runs supreme here, every road, ballot measure, and industrial promise still has to […]
Posted inCulture, Partner Content, Politics & Policy, Social Welfare
Black and Latino Residents Unite to Defend South LA Amid ICE Raids and Aid Cuts
This story is part of ICE vs. LA, a collaborative reporting project by LA Public Press, Caló News, Capital & Main, Capital B, LA Taco, and Q Voice. Four months after nearly 5,000 federal troops descended onto Los Angeles, Marsha Mitchell, a Black organizer in South Central, explained what made it impossible for her not […]