William Barber Takes on Poverty and Race in the Age of Trump

Jelani Cobb profiles the Rev. Dr. William Barber, who has worked for the past three years to revive Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: May 14, 2018
Length: 30 minutes (7,583 words)

Under Trump, A Hard Test for Howard University

For The New Yorker, historian and journalist Jelani Cobb dives deep into the history of Washington D.C.’s Howard University, one of the nation’s largest HBCU’s. Howard alumni include Thurgood Marshall, Kamala Harris, and Toni Morrison, and the school has played a large role in facilitating the social mobility of blacks in America since the Civil War. Cobb speaks at length to Wayne Frederick, the university’s current president, whose pragmatism during the Trump era has drawn ire from student activists. But similar tensions have arisen before.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Jan 8, 2018
Length: 29 minutes (7,383 words)

The Matter of Black Lives

Examining the future of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Mar 7, 2016
Length: 21 minutes (5,419 words)

What I Saw in Ferguson

Jelani Cobb on the situation in Ferguson, Missouri following the tragic death of Michael Brown.

Source: The New Yorker
Published: Aug 14, 2014
Length: 7 minutes (1,995 words)