The insurance check to rebuild Zaire Calvin’s family properties came in at just under $300,000, a drop in the bucket compared to the roughly $2.1 million they had been worth. His family had five homes sprawled across two lots in the leafy suburb of Altadena, California, before the Eaton Fire unleashed its wrath, leveling both […]
Money
Posted inBlack Farmers, Money, Rural Issues
The Little-Known Committee That Has Cost Black Farmers for Generations
This is the first story in Capital B’s “Gatekeepers of the Land,” a multipart series that explores a small but powerful county committee system and its role in diminishing Black political power and resources for Black farmers. This project is a result of the Investigative Reporting and Editors Chauncey Bailey Journalist of Color Fellowship. It is […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Technology
In Chicago, a Pentagon‑backed Lab Could Price Out Black Residents
CHICAGO — By the time Jerry Whirley heard that a $9 billion quantum-computing campus was coming a few blocks from his South Shore home, most of what he actually needed from his neighborhood, like somewhere to buy medicine or groceries, had already vanished. He didn’t learn about “Quantum City” from the governor or the mayor, […]
Posted inEconomy, Employment, Health, Politics & Policy
Trump Touts Success in State of the Union as Black Communities Reflect on Hard Year
President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address opened with an uproar. A few minutes into Tuesday’s program, Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Green of Texas was escorted from the chamber for breaking decorum rules after holding up a sign that read, “Black People Aren’t Apes!” It was a rebuke to a racist video that Trump […]
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 […]
Posted inEconomy, Employment, Food Access, Health, Politics & Policy
Partial Government Shutdown Looms as Battle Over DHS Funding Persists
Large swaths of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are poised to shut down on Saturday, as Democrats and the White House remain locked in a standoff over the Trump administration’s immigration measures. Some 13% of the federal civilian workforce would be affected by a shutdown, according to the Washington Post. Operations would be disrupted […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Eminent Domain
Mississippi Residents Say City Quietly Marked Their Homes for Takeover
Greg Gipson walked out of a federal appeals court in Louisiana last week feeling a bit more hopeful about a case that was dismissed in Mississippi over his historic neighborhood’s designation. Gipson and other residents drove 93 miles from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to New Orleans to persuade a panel of federal judges to reconsider whether their […]
Posted inBlack Businesses
Where to Find Black-Owned Bookstores Across the U.S.
Black-owned bookstores are popping up around the country, offering spaces and access to books that may not be on the shelves at chain bookstores. Larger corporations like Amazon and Target sometimes sell books at a lower price compared to independent Black bookstores. Five bookstore owners told Capital B their stores provide community, something large corporations […]
Posted inClimate Change, Housing, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues, Wealth Gap
This Mississippi Delta Home Could Collapse Before Help Arrives
SIDON, Mississippi — Malissa Whitehead is known for making tea cakes and blueberry pies during the holidays — but as Christmas approaches, she’s uneasy about baking anything in the house she’s lived in for 40 years. The kitchen ceiling wood is peeling, revealing small holes and chipped paint. On the outside, the roof is covered […]