LIKE THOUSANDS OF OTHER BLACK AMERICANS, Tiffany Hawkins’ grandparents, Earnest and Mattie Lee Johnson, left the Jim Crow South in the 1950s to pick cotton in Arizona’s desert. Many sought opportunities in cities like Chicago and Detroit, but the Johnsons chose Arizona, where their lives and those of their children — including Hawkins’ mother, Arlene […]
Phoenix
Posted inBlack Migration, Elections, Politics & Policy, Voting
Understanding Phoenix’s Complex — and Growing — Black Voter Bloc
PHOENIX — Over the past two decades, Black people disillusioned by the inequalities that have defined life in other states have moved to Arizona in droves, searching for more opportunities. Still, as transplants have found hope in the battleground state, the ability to build political power has struggled to take root. The state has emerged […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice
Black Americans Are Moving to Phoenix in Historic Numbers. Few Are Finding a Better Life.
This story was produced in partnership with High Country News. In late October 2012, the 80 mph winds of Hurricane Sandy pelted the tiny suburb of Pennington, New Jersey, where Brian Watson worked. Watson’s job as a fraud analyst for Bank of America Merrill Lynch required him to be on call 24/7 despite the severe […]