Texan Algenita Davis headed into her state’s primaries Tuesday with a clear sense of what she wanted the outcome to be. “You want to make sure that you put people in office who are going to make the most difference — who are going to fight,” said Davis, 75, a retiree who lives in the […]
Houston
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Black Texans Head to the Primaries With More Than Just Ballots on the Line
Texan Algenita Davis isn’t just talking about the candidates as she heads into the March 3 primaries. She’s also talking about voting maps. From her home near the Old Spanish Trail and Cullen Boulevard in the Third Ward of Houston, she describes congressional lines that curve and stretch north and south across the city and […]
Posted inMaternal Health
This Texas County Is the Deadliest Place in the U.S. for Black Mothers to Give Birth
This article was produced as a project for the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism and the Fund for Reporting on Child Well-being. HOUSTON — By the third trimester of an already difficult pregnancy, Moriah Ballard faced two new complications: relentless headaches and dizziness. Over the […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
This District Built On Civil Rights Legacy Has Gone Months Without Representation
Uncertainty continues to hang over Texas’ 18th Congressional District. No single candidate secured 50% of the vote in the Nov. 4 special election, meaning that the race is heading to a runoff. The top two vote-getters — Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards — will compete at a date […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy, Technology
In Houston, A Program Turns Sunlight into Second Chances for Incarcerated Texans
HOUSTON — Leon Dillard gripped the solar panel tight, sweat stinging his eyes as he scaled the sun-baked roof for the first time. His adrenaline racing, he remembered making sure his harness was clipped not once, but twice. He’d never climbed up onto a roof before, let alone with a 50-pound panel of metal and […]
Posted inBlack Migration, Culture, Extreme Weather, History
Hurricane Katrina Displaced a Generation — and Led to a Renaissance in Houston
HOUSTON — On a recent Sunday afternoon, tears welled in Sharon Becnel’s eyes as she heard her now 34-year-old daughter reminisce about the scrapbook she lost to Hurricane Katrina. Inside the pages were Ronisha Johnson’s childhood dreams of becoming an actress and winning a big case as a lawyer. She had only packed for a […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Housing, Land Pollution
Black Women Fight for Life in Houston’s Most Toxic — and Gentrifying — Neighborhood
When Carolyn Rivera moved to Settegast, a majority-Black neighborhood in northeast Houston, 45 years ago, horses roamed the streets and nearly every homestead had a backyard farm where chickens and speckled feather guinea hens darted between rows of corn and greens. Rivera, who turns 83 next month, remembers those early days with a kind of […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather
Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Policies Undermine Recovery in Black Disaster Zones
For two months, hundreds of workers have cleared smoldering, toxic ashes in Altadena, California, removing what remains of a historic Black neighborhood. All the while, many don’t know how much longer they’ll be in the country. Since Hurricane Katrina, undocumented immigrants have been the backbone of America’s disaster recovery system, trailing nature’s fury from hurricanes […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather
More Than Half of Houstonians Say They Might Move. Here’s Why.
After learning that forecasters predicted a record-breaking hurricane season this year, Marilyn Rayon and her husband, Leo, spent thousands of dollars to trim trees and shrubbery around their home so a storm wouldn’t throw them into their house. They took a practical precaution, heeding the warnings of elected officials and weather experts. Their utility company, […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Partner Content
Industry Poisoned a Vibrant Black Neighborhood in Houston. Is a Buyout the Solution?
This story was produced by Grist and co-published with Houston Public Media. Leisa Glenn spent decades living in the Fifth Ward, a historically Black neighborhood in Houston, known for having one of the city’s best views of downtown. Every July 4th, Glenn, 65, and her neighbors would stream out of their houses into the summer […]
