Vann R. Newkirk II

When the tools for educating young people are restricted

A tribute to a true theorist of democracy

The Reconstruction era is not just a distant, bygone time. It’s also a living history.

A trove of images from the 1960s and ’70s, discovered in a Swedish bank vault, offers new perspectives on the past—and the present.

Suggestions for your downtime this Martin Luther King Jr. Day

How Trump could unwind generations of progress

In 1871, the Fisk University singers embarked on a tour that introduced white Americans to a Black sound that would reshape the nation.

Part 8: Whoever believes in him shall not perish

Part 7: A settlement in ashes

Part 6: On Palm Sunday, Black D.C. wakes up to a broken dream.

Part 5: Leaders hope to stop that which had been foretold

Part 4: In Memphis, the movement faces a reckoning.

Part 3: Who will rise next?

Part 2: The Black capital of the world catches fire

Part 1: A day at the crossroads of chance and destiny

The story of a revolution undone

Three basketball-loving writers discuss the first season of HBO’s controversial series about the 1980s Lakers.

To support the Republican narrative that our elections are rife with misconduct, someone needs to take the fall.

Black civil-rights activists—and especially Black women—delivered on the promise of the Founding. Their victories are in peril.

The world is getting hotter, and the divide between rich and poor is getting bigger.

Covering Katrina weakened my faith in the country’s preparedness. The coronavirus has robbed me of it completely.

More young people in the South seem to be dying from COVID-19. Why?

With the country’s attention turned north, the coronavirus pandemic is exploding in Louisiana.

COVID-19 doesn’t appear to be a major concern for children’s health, but the youngest among us will still bear the larger burdens of trauma and economic fallout.

A retrospective on the events that led to the disaster, and what came next

A conversation with the man behind the music in the podcast about his inspiration, the betrayal of Hurricane Katrina, and the unique history and future of New Orleans.

A collection of research and writing that informed and inspired the podcast

The shameful story of how 1 million black families have been ripped from their farms

The debate over reparations highlights the dual purpose of the holiday: celebrating emancipation but also demanding accountability for historical and present wrongs.

In his latest film, the comedian turned director continues to reinvent how the genre uses fear to comment on humanity’s evil.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is unveiling a proposal to combat disenfranchisement, which he says is one of the “three biggest issues” the country faces going into 2020.

The party hopes to restore and extend key provisions of the Voting Rights Act.

The president has somehow proved resilient to accusations that he is a racist.

White, black, and Hispanic people hold distinctly different views of American identity and values.

Scandals reveal a party beset by infighting and whispers of conspiracies.

In her response to the president’s State of the Union address, the former Georgia legislator pushed voting rights to the heart of her party’s agenda.

The Virginia governor’s main problem is not the particulars of his dalliances with racism, but the fact that they exist—and that they caught black voters unawares.

So far there’s no evidence that anyone on a faulty list of registered voters cast an illegal ballot. That didn’t stop President Trump from decrying “voter fraud.”

The decision to tap Abrams for their State of the Union response reflects the importance of this year’s address to the party.

Republican lawmakers don’t want to fully implement a ballot initiative passed in November. One health-care advocate called it “trampling on … representative democracy.”