From This Collection

Athletes protest police shooting of Jacob Blake by refusing to play

Kenneth Shropshire called Wednesday a "universally unique day in history and in sport."
The Milwaukee Bucks, scheduled to play against the Orlando Magic in the NBA playoffs Wednesday, decided not to play to take a stand against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.
Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Why the founders of Crowns & Hops are running a brewing company with a mission

Aug 24, 2020
"This absolutely is about racial equity," said Teo Hunter, COO of Crowns & Hops Brewing Co.
Teo Hunter, left, and Beny Ashburn, the founders of Crowns & Hops Brewing. Said Hunter: "Our goal was always to give something beautiful, something that was indicative of Black and brown excellence, to the community."
Courtesy Beny Ashburn

The "Detroitist" on her dad's record shop and what it really meant

Aug 21, 2020
Marsha Music talks about her hometown and how urban renewal efforts uprooted the family business.
Joe Von Battle inside his record shop on Hastings Street in Detroit.
Photo from the Collection of Marsha Music

Retailers pledge 15% of shelf space to Black-owned businesses

Aug 19, 2020
The 15 Percent Pledge is pushing retailers to devote more shelf space to Black-owned businesses.
A Sephora store in Santa Monica, California, in March. The beauty chain is participating in the 15 Percent Pledge.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

What the story of Soul City, N.C., can teach us about fixing systemic economic racism

Aug 19, 2020
Civil rights leader Floyd McKissick set out to create a town, aided by government funding, that would showcase Black capitalism. Professor Devin Fergus explains why the story is relevant today.
Civil rights leaders including Floyd McKissick, second from left, at the White House with President John Kennedy in 1963. McKissick led the Congress of Racial Equality and later founded Soul City.
AFP/Getty Images

The Economy, Reset

Aug 14, 2020
Ending systemic racism isn't just a moral dilemma; it's an economic problem, too. A look at the road to a fairer economy.
Black Lives Matter supporters demonstrate against racial injustice and police brutality in Portland, Oregon, on July 31.
Nathan Howard/Getty Images

For Black women, the pay gap persists

Aug 13, 2020
In times of crisis, existing patterns of inequality become more pronounced.
Before the pandemic, a Black woman made 62 cents for every dollar a white man made. But COVID-19 has likely exacerbated that.
Drazen Zigic/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

"If we can't get it let's create it:" tech entrepreneur Rameish Budhoo on creating the Black Nation app

Aug 6, 2020
The Black Nation app started as a directory, and is now a social platform.
The Black Nation app.
Image Courtesy of Rameish Budhoo

'America is an old house': Isabel Wilkerson on race and caste in America

Aug 5, 2020
In her new book, “Caste,” Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson compares America to an “old house” where “the work is never done, and you don’t expect it to be.”
"When people live in an old house, they come to adjust to [its] idiosyncrasies and outright dangers," Isabel Wilkerson writes in "Caste."
Lee Celano/AFP via Getty Images

One reason why Black-owned businesses have fared worse in the pandemic: weaker banking relationships

Aug 4, 2020
That leaves them restricted access to capital, according to a study by the New York Fed.
A beauty product booth at a Black-owned business expo in Florida. The number of Black business owners in the U.S. fell more than 40% between February and April, according to a New York Fed study.
Octavio Jones/Getty Images