Breaking News! History in the Making

Sly and the Family Stone in 1986 (Epic Records)

Sly Stone Believed Everybody Is a Star: The Massive Legacy of an Avant-Funk Revolutionary

Rob Sheffield examines the recently departed Stone’s unique musical style, including his inspiration and those musicians he later inspired.

charlotte skyline

Black Entrepreneurs in Charlotte Launch $3.7M Campaign to Build Innovation Center

Entrepreneurs in Charlotte, North Carolina, are coming together to build a creative hub designed to support and uplift small Black businesses no matter the industry.

The air in Memphis is often filled with smog, and has been for years (Joshua J. Cotten/Unsplash)

Memphis Had a Smog Problem Long Before Elon Came to Town

While the Colossus supercomputer may have increased emmissions in the city, Memphis was long known for its air pollution.

Fabienne Rene and Andrice Boncoeur. (Courtesy International Cardiac Alliance)

Trump’s ban stalls lifesaving treatment for Haitian children who need to travel for surgery

Over 300 children and adults are currently on a waitlist to receive heart surgery in the US, some of whom may die whle waiting.

Synthetic braids may not be safer than chemical relaxers according to new research (Michael Starkie/Unsplash)

Many Black women consider synthetic braids safe. A study found toxins in all the brands it tested

While many Black women have swapped out hair relaxers for braids, they may be unaware of the risks posed by VOCs in these products.

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Judge weighs government’s request to unseal records of FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr.

Newly released FBI records uncover the extent of government surveillance and attempt to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. during the height of the civil rights movement.

Donald Trump (Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The “Beautiful” Budget Bill Is Pretty Ugly for Black Americans

The deep cuts to federal government programs that Congress is considering will hurt millions–especially in Black communities.

Black men disproportionately suffer from drug overdoses (Timur Weber/Pexels)

The State of Black America’s Drug Overdose Epidemic

People of color struggling with addiction have long been penalized, not helped, allowing addiction and overdoses to continue unchecked.

Jheanelle K. Wilkins, the current chair of Maryland's Black Caucus (Orangeblue222, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Maryland’s Black Caucus Leadership: Driven by Faith and Service

Delegates Jheanelle Wilkins, Stephanie Smith, Karen Toles, and Melissa Wells are blending politics and purpose.

New study shows Black male students assigned to Black teachers are less likely to end up in special education. (Pexels Photo by RDNE Stock Project)

School May Be the Only Doctor Some Black Kids Ever See

If the GOP’s Big Beautiful Bill Act is passed, cuts to Medicaid will result in slashed school-based health services, putting health at risk.

The current exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" is organized into 12 conceptual and chronological groupings. On display here is the "Heritage" category blending African dress with Western tailoring traditions. (Adrianna Newell for NPR)

A look at the Met Museum’s exhibition on Black dandyism

The museum’s latest exhibit, which inspired the 2025 Met Gala, pays homage to the fashion of Black dandies.

June 2ndtHistory Colored

Why The History of Segregated Facilities Matters in the Trump Era

America has come a long way since the institution of segregation, a system of enforced separation based on race, that lasted well into the 20th century. It involved laws, policies, and social customs that kept Black and white Americans apart in public spaces, schools, transportation, housing, and more.

The library at Livingstone College (
Ncpappy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Norwalk students receive full scholarships to historically Black college: ‘Truly a gift’

Two high school students will head to Livingstone College this fall, thanks to a scholarship to the historically Black school.

Tulsa's Mayor Nichols Speaks to a crowd (Monroe Nichols/Facebook)

Tulsa’s new Black mayor proposes $100M trust to ‘repair’ impact of 1921 Race Massacre

Mayor Nichols does not call the payments “reparations” because it’s a loaded term, and the approach will focus on racial repair generally.

“19 Black New Orleanians’ heads were dismembered and shipped to Leipzig University”

19 Black New Orleanians’ heads were dismembered and shipped to Leipzig University in Germany for research.

Studio shot of a young businesswoman waiting in line against a blue background

Coping Strategies for Black Women Facing Job Loss, DEI Rollbacks

Licensed therapist educator Dr. LaToya S. Gilmore offers ways Black women can deal with the financial and identity hits caused by job loss.

Tamara Lanier, who sued the school for access to her ancestor's photos (Sidni M. Frederick, photographer for The Harvard Crimson, MIT, via Wikimedia Commons)

Harvard relinquishes possession of slave photos after years-long dispute

A descendant of the subject of some photos has allowed Harvard to keep ownership in as long as the photos became publically available.

A statue currently at Mepkin Abby (Race2Beach - Sara Dean, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Trappist abbey’s meditation garden honors enslaved people who once worked the land

What was once a plantation is now a Catholic Abby overseen by the first Black Catholic bishop in South Carolina.

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Charles Rangel, former longtime N.Y. congressman who represented Harlem, dies at 94

Charles Rangel, the Democratic former congressman from New York who championed his Harlem community on Capitol Hill for almost five decades, died Monday, his family said.

BLM protests like this one in Grand Rapids left activists physically and mentally traumatized (
aelin.elliott, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

They were shot by police at the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. ‘I came home a different person’

Thousands of activists protested after George Floyd’s murder, and many of them bear the scars five years later.

Protesters walking along Delmar Boulevard in 2020, after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. (Lawrence Bryant/Reuters)

May 25, 2020: Remembering when George Floyd’s murder ignited Milwaukee and the nation five years ago

Kenosha, Wisconsin was just one city where a protest against police violence made headlines after George Floyd’s murder in 2020.