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When Racial Ideology Is at Odds With Identity
What two 18th century figures reveal about Andrew Tate—and the messiness of race.
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Remembering Thoreau and the Black Residents of Concord
Better than recognizing a shameful history is to learn from it
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Invisible Women and ‘Respectability Politics’
How a literary conversation among Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, and others unfolded over decades—and continues today
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The Power of the Black Portrait
Visual art can help restore dignity to those who have been dishonored.
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Writing for the Head, Heart, and Gut
The novel I’m reading right now achieves that lofty goal.
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Everything Is Going Too Fast
News exists in our lives more as something to consume rather than as a means for civic engagement.
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How to Be an Honest Historian
To be a responsible student of history, I must contend with defenses of true ugliness—and hold my admiration and dismay at once.
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No One Is Safe
We are all learning, slowly but surely, that you cannot contain gun violence in America.
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When Borders Become Death Traps
The San Antonio tragedy is a reminder that our capacity for empathy is much greater than rules and ideologies.
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A Grisly Souvenir of Global Oppression
Patrice Lumumba’s tooth, just returned by Belgium, reminds us that today’s ceremonial gestures do not remedy yesterday’s devastation.
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‘A Strange Loop’ Reminded Me of the Importance of Black Criticism
As I watched the Tony-winning musical, I wondered how the overwhelmingly white audience was thinking about regular Black people.
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Lessons From Black and Chinese Relations in the Deep South
Baldwin Lee, ‘Mississippi Triangle,’ and the limits of upward mobility
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How We Must Raise Our Children Now
They should believe in the possibility of a loving and just world, and that they have a responsibility to work for it.
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The Scars and Stripes of My Literary Tradition
Black American artists inherit a literary past that is prickly at best.
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The Real Cost of Knock-Off Designer Bags
Wealthy women are purchasing high-quality fakes. But what about the people who make them?
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Free Speech Belongs to Freedom Fighters
Words of struggle are being perverted and colonized by powerful forces.
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Stop Telling Me to Buy Bitcoin
Crypto promises Black Americans a different kind of relationship to wealth. But it also depends on a dangerous historical formula.
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Rodney King, 30 Years Later
Three decades ago this week, the officers on trial for beating King were exonerated. Today, the horror has become mundane.
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What Black Organizers Did When Cities Failed Them
Remembering my preschool, which tried to give Black students a high-quality education when Milwaukee refused
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Why I Believe in the ‘Marvelous Real’
Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier’s counterpart to magical realism revealed untold stories of South America
