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 […]
Politics & Policy
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
Philadelphia Wins Court Fight Over Slavery Exhibit Removal
After a weekslong battle, Black Philadelphians and their allies have notched a victory: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore a slavery exhibit at the President’s House Site in the city. Without warning, National Park Service workers in January removed panels about slavery from the President’s House Site, where George Washington […]
Posted inCulture, History, Politics & Policy
Remembering the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Impact and Civil Rights Leadership
The Rev. Jesse Jackson — a grandfather, husband, and storied civil rights icon — has passed away. Jackson died peacefully Tuesday morning, surrounded by family, according to a statement issued by the Rainbow People United to Save Humanity (PUSH) Coalition. Last fall, Jackson was hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he received “good […]
Posted inHistory, Politics & Policy
100 Years After a Black Family Was Forced Out, a Descendant Sues a California City
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 […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Texas Senate Primary Erupts After ‘Mediocre Black Man’ Remark
The Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas has been jolted by fresh controversy, one that has revived debates over race, power, and perceived political legitimacy in the Lone Star State and beyond. The flare-up began on Sunday. A TikToker posted a video in which she says that Democratic Texas state Rep. James […]
Posted inFederal Overhaul, Politics & Policy
Black Diplomats Say Trump’s Moves Are Pushing People Out of Public Service
Federal Overhaul is a multipart series that explores the impact of the Trump administration’s restructuring of the federal government on Black communities. Pamela L. Spratlen knows all too well how elusive diversity has long been within the U.S. Foreign Service. Her father, as a young man, applied to join the Foreign Service. But this was […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
The Alabama Town That Blocked Its First Black Mayor Now Has Another
Read Capital B’s continuous coverage on Newbern, Alabama, and the first Black mayor’s fight to serve. The rural Alabama town that once ousted its first Black leader has now appointed its second Black mayor and first woman to hold the office. The historic appointment of Barbara Patrick in Newbern on Feb. 1 comes after Patrick […]
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 inPolitics & Policy
Don Lemon and Black Critics of the Trump Administration Released
The fallout from a Jan. 18 protest at a Minnesota church continues following the arrests of Black journalists and activists critical of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X on Friday morning that, at her direction, federal agents had arrested former CNN anchor Don Lemon, independent journalist Georgia Fort, […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Capital B Condemns Arrests of Journalists Over Minneapolis Coverage
Capital B stands in solidarity with journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, who were arrested today in connection to their coverage of an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest earlier this month at a Minneapolis church — an act of journalism unequivocally protected by the First Amendment. We join statements by the National Association of Black […]