From Memphis to Gary, Black Communities Are Being Left in the Dark

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An NAACP flyer campaigning for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 1922, but was filibustered to defeat in the Senate. Dyer, the NAACP, and freedom fighters around the country, like Flossie Baily, struggled for years to get the Dyer and other anti-lynching bills passed, to no avail. Today there is still no U.S. law specifically against lynching. In 2005, eighty of the 100 U.S. Senators voted for a resolution to apologize to victims' families and the country for their failure to outlaw lynching. Courtesy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Some Exhibits to Come – One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

Bibliography – One Hundred Years Of Jim Crow

Claude, age 23, just months before his 1930 murder. Courtesy of Faith Deeter.

Freedom’s Heroes During Jim Crow: Flossie Bailey and the Deeters

Souvenir Portrait of the Lynching of Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp, August 7, 1930, by studio photographer Lawrence Beitler. Courtesy of the Indiana Hisorical Society.

An Iconic Lynching in the North

Claxton Dekle – Prosperous Farmer, Husband & Father of Two

Ancient manuscripts about mathematics and astronomy from Timbuktu, Mali

Some Exhibits to Come – African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles for Adults & Children from the Henrietta Marie

Some Exhibits to Come – The Middle Passage

What I Saw Aboard a Slave Ship in 1829

Life After Hate: A Former White Power Leader Redeems Himself

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August 24, 2026

Adam Mahoney, Capital B

IPastor Valerie Clarke (right) and Connor Taylor of the Gospel Truth Apostolic Ministry distribute food to residents outside of the church on Aug. 20 in Gary, Indiana. Many residents of Gary have not been able to refrigerate food after a storm knocked out power to large swaths of the city. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

As of Monday morning, there were still roughly 50,000 residents in the 62% Black city without power. Memphis Light, Gas and Water told residents full restoration might not come until Thursday.

The same story is playing out in Gary, Indiana, a city that is 76% Black, where tens of thousands have now gone nearly two weeks without power. For Black and low-income families, the loss of power can quickly turn fatal. This month, a Black family was found dead in their Rocky Mount, North Carolina, home after losing power for an unpaid bill.

When the power goes out in America, it does not go out equally. Research has found that Black communities face higher odds of outages and longer-duration interruptions. In Memphis and Gary, residents and elected officials say those disparities are compounded by poverty, aging infrastructure, and rising pressure on regional power systems.

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