African Americans

Jesse Jackson campaigning

The End of the Campaign Is Not the End of the Movement The End of the Campaign Is Not the End of the Movement

What Sanders and Warren supporters can learn from the long tail of Jesse Jackson’s presidential runs.

Apr 28, 2020 / Steve Phillips

Lorraine Hansberry’s Radicalism

Lorraine Hansberry’s Radicalism Lorraine Hansberry’s Radicalism

For the playwright and activist, neither liberal reform nor countercultural art were enough. The very foundations of American democracy needed to be transformed. 

Apr 21, 2020 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques

The Racial Politics of ‘Return’

The Racial Politics of ‘Return’ The Racial Politics of ‘Return’

Tourism initiatives in Ghana and beyond leave out black people without the economic means to travel.

Apr 10, 2020 / Edna Bonhomme

Pop Music Has Always Been Queer

Pop Music Has Always Been Queer Pop Music Has Always Been Queer

Sasha Geffen’s debut book reveals that the history of pop music is a history of gender rebellion.

Apr 8, 2020 / Q&A / Tal Milovina

Is It Too Late for Bernie Sanders to Win Over Black Voters?

Is It Too Late for Bernie Sanders to Win Over Black Voters? Is It Too Late for Bernie Sanders to Win Over Black Voters?

Black voters and suburban women are the base of the post-Trump Democratic Party that Sanders wants to lead. If he doesn’t have a strategy for winning them, he’ll lose again.

Mar 11, 2020 / Joan Walsh

Students promote black voter engagement

The ‘Black Vote’ Narrative Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy The ‘Black Vote’ Narrative Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Every black American has their own reasons for voting the way they do. Why can’t the mainstream media reflect that diversity?

Mar 11, 2020 / Shirley Ngozi Nwangwa

Trump rally in central Pennsylvania

If Progressives Want to Win, They’ll Have to Talk About White Supremacy If Progressives Want to Win, They’ll Have to Talk About White Supremacy

Racial resentment gives Trump his power. It’s time for Sanders and Warren to call it out.

Feb 21, 2020 / Steve Phillips

A woman with her great-granddaughter

Appalachia Gets Special Funding. The Black Rural South Deserves It Too. Appalachia Gets Special Funding. The Black Rural South Deserves It Too.

Kennedy made rural poverty a focus of his presidential campaign. This year’s candidates could do the same—this time, in the Black Belt region.

Feb 14, 2020 / Greg Kaufmann

Tracking Down Mayor Pete’s Black Voter Problem

Tracking Down Mayor Pete’s Black Voter Problem Tracking Down Mayor Pete’s Black Voter Problem

Listening to voters in his home state, our reporter discovers he’s queer for Buttigieg.

Feb 7, 2020 / Feature / Darryl Pinckney

Slavery, and American Racism, Were Born in Genocide

Slavery, and American Racism, Were Born in Genocide Slavery, and American Racism, Were Born in Genocide

Martin Luther King Jr. saw something essential about our nation: Imperial expansion west over stolen Indian land shaped and deepened the American Revolution’s relationship to slave...

Jan 20, 2020 / Greg Grandin

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