‘Wild With Love’: Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah on the Portraits of Henry Taylor By Danielle Jackson Highlight Henry Taylor’s portraits are sacred objects that lovingly center black subjects and black interiority.
Forced to Perform As Aretha Franklin By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight How soul singer Mary Jane Jones was forced to perform as Aretha Franklin before she took control of her life and career.
A Frustrating Year of Reporting on Black Maternal Health By Danielle Jackson Feature Stories of women of color dying of childbirth have dominated headlines — but little has been done to change postpartum care.
Masters of Contradiction By Brittany Allen Feature Two new books offer fresh perspective on “Otherhood,” that condition in which characters do constant, exhausting battle — for the most part — inside their own heads.
‘Open Casket’ and the Question of Empathy By Longreads Feature Did Dana Schutz’s painting engage with her subject, Emmett Till, ethically and responsibly?
Why Beyoncé Placed HBCU’s at the Center of American Life By Danielle Jackson Commentary The singer’s latest performance helps expand the possibilities of what it looks like to be a black thinking person.
The Enduring Legacy of the Willie Lynch Hoax By Matt Giles Commentary Why Kanye referenced a nonexistent slave owner.
Did Brian Easley Have to Die? By Aaron Gell Feature A desperate veteran, missing his disability payment, walked into a bank and took several people hostage. This is how he got there.
Grown-Woman Theology By Aaron Gilbreath Feature Lessons of race, blackness and power from a self-described nerdy Black girl.
The Making of a Black Fortune By Aaron Gilbreath Feature America’s first black millionaires were born into slavery — and built wealth alongside political power.
The Unexpected Reemergence of an Elusive Strain of Rice By Ben Huberman Highlight Hill rice was supposed to be extinct, until a South Carolina chef stumbled on it — in Trinidad.
The NFL Has Pimped Its Players for Too Long By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight The disturbing parallels between professional football and the business of pimping
Black Women’s Maternal Mortality Rates in the US are Staggeringly High By Danielle Jackson Highlight Shalon Irving was educated, insured, and well-supported by family and friends. She still became a casualty of missed opportunities and neglect by healthcare providers.
Brit Bennett Reflects on Living the Past Year in “Trump Time” By Danielle Jackson Highlight How the whiplash-like event of Trump following the nation’s first black president has “compressed time.”
Kevin Young Is Ready to Engage the Public with Poetry By Danielle Jackson Highlight The new poetry editor of the New Yorker says that to find poetry, “you have to look in your backyard.”
L.A.’s Underground Museum is a Vital Hub of Contemporary Black Culture By Danielle Jackson Highlight The space has become a vital convening point for creatives, culture workers, and audiences interested in ideas of black excellence.
In the Wake of Weinstein and #MeToo, Why Does R. Kelly Still Have an Audience? By Danielle Jackson Highlight Women of color who have been singled out by sexual predators deserve our collective fury too.
The Athletes Who Felt Seen by Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” By Danielle Jackson Commentary The modern hip-hop classic reflects growing up in Compton “one thousand percent.”
The Nigerian, Feminist Designer who Flouts Convention By Danielle Jackson Highlight Building a fashion empire in a country that’s still conservative about sexuality and female agency.
Keeping Black Farm Families Connected to the Land in Michigan By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Blueberry growing is popular around tiny Covert, Michigan, but how do these farmers of color keep their kids farming the land?
How Did the Blues Become the Blues? By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight In one simple sentence in 1914, Columbus Bragg, an African American writer, helped codify the Blues genre, though he’s largest forgotten.
Why the “Black Grateful Dead” Thrives Outside of Top 40 Radio By Danielle Jackson Highlight For the Undefeated, music writer and essayist Bruce Britt offers a compelling history of soul band Maze.
The 1923 Novel That Helps Us Understand Today’s Racial Climate By Danielle Jackson Commentary ‘Cane’ is a series of vignettes about life in rural Georgia told from the point of view of an ambivalently black teacher from the north.
Talking with Multi-Genre Writer Walter Mosley By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight The author talks with The Paris Review about writing, crime fiction, and his depiction of Black American life.
An Unforgiving Legal System Welcomes Black Immigrants to America By Longreads Feature The Black Alliance for Just Immigration helps those affected by racial profiling and harsh immigration laws.
Nina Simone’s Three Years of Freedom By Danielle Jackson Highlight At Guernica, Katherina Grace Thomas turns a lens on the years Nina Simone spent in Liberia in the mid-1970s.
Zadie Smith Takes on Black Pain With a Light Touch By Danielle Jackson Commentary At Harper’s, Smith doesn’t really feel like she is engaging in her subject matter with much care or heart.
The Word Is ‘Nemesis’: The Fight to Integrate the National Spelling Bee By cgreend Feature For talented black spellers in the 1960s, the segregated local spelling bee was the beginning and the end of the long road to Washington, D.C.
Young African Artists Lead Nuanced Conversation about Race in America By Danielle Jackson Commentary Taiye Selasi, Yaa Gyasi, and Toyin Ojin Odutola expand notions of blackness with layered, nuanced artwork.
Who Says Healthy Food Can’t Be Accessible and Affordable? By Aaron Gilbreath Highlight Daniel Patterson, and the challenges of bringing fast healthy food to the impoverished neighborhoods trapped in food deserts.
