Racial Justice
Examining Race and Racism in America
The Story of One Mississippi County Shows How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation
A new ProPublica analysis shows a stark pattern across states in the Deep South: Alongside majority-Black public school districts, a separate web of private academies are filled almost entirely with white students.
Charleston Unveils Historical Marker at the Site of Firm That Held the Largest Known U.S. Slave Trade
As a graduate student at the College of Charleston, Lauren Davila found an ad for the auction of 600 enslaved people. A ProPublica story last year revealed her discovery and unearthed the identity of the family responsible for the sale.
Tribal College Campuses Are Falling Apart. The U.S. Hasn’t Fulfilled Its Promise to Fund the Schools.
Decades ago, Congress made a commitment to fund a higher education system for Indigenous communities. But a quarter-billion-dollar annual shortfall has led to crimped budgets and crumbling buildings, even as enrollment rises.
Cookie & Zo’e: A Georgia Family Wrestles With School Choice 60 Years After the Start of Desegregation
In a new ProPublica short documentary, Samaria “Cookie” Mitcham Bailey and her great-granddaughter Zo’e Johnson reflect on their experiences in a town where schools are still largely segregated.
Featured Reporters
Impact of Our Reporting
ProPublica Updates Its Database of Museums’ and Universities’ Compliance With Federal Repatriation Law
Institutions across the U.S. returned more than 10,300 Native American ancestors to tribes in 2024, making it the third-biggest year for repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Virginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities
The groundbreaking commission, which was proposed in response to our “Uprooted” series, would consider compensation for dislodged property owners and their descendants. Whether Gov. Glenn Youngkin will sign the bill is unclear.
Local Reporting Network
Task Force to Consider “Restorative Justice” for Black Families Uprooted by Virginia University’s Expansion
Spurred by our “Uprooted” series, a task force created by the city of Newport News and Christopher Newport University will reexamine decades of city and university records shedding light on a Black neighborhood’s destruction.
Local Reporting Network
Series
Series: Uprooted: Virginia Universities Have Expanded by Dislodging Black Communities
Series: The Repatriation Project: The Delayed Return of Native Remains
Series: Juvenile Injustice, Tennessee: Where Kids Meet the Rule of Law
Series: Schoolyard Sheriffs: Policing Kids in Antelope Valley Schools
Series: Unwatched: A Louisiana Law Department That Polices Itself
Series: Black Snow: Big Sugar’s Burning Problem
Series: Polluter’s Paradise: Environmental Impact in Louisiana
Series: Dispossessed: How Black Families Are Losing Their Land
Series: Invisible Walls: Connecticut’s Separate and Unequal Housing
Series: Unprotected: Rape at an American Charity in Liberia
Series: Driven Into Debt: How Tickets Burden the Poor
Series: Walking While Black: Pedestrian Enforcement and Racial Profiling
Series: Too Broke for Bankruptcy: How Bankruptcy Fails Those Who Need It Most
Series: Lost Mothers: Maternal Care and Preventable Deaths
Series: Documenting Hate: Tracking Hate Crimes and Bias Incidents
Series: Segregation Now: Investigating America’s racial divide in education, housing and beyond.
Series: Busted: Examining Chemical Field Tests
Series: Machine Bias: Investigating Algorithmic Injustice
Series: Nuisance Abatement: The NYPD’s Aggressive Enforcement of a Little-known Law
Series: Dispatches from Freedom Summer: Race Then and Now
New Documents Prove Tennessee County Disproportionately Jails Black Children, and It’s Getting Worse
Louisiana Deputy Who Slammed a Black Woman on the Pavement Was Named in Multiple Suits, Records Show
What We’re Watching
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.
Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.
Sharon Lerner
I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.
Andy Kroll
I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.
Melissa Sanchez
I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.
Jesse Coburn
I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.
If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.
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