Racial Justice

Examining Race and Racism in America

Featured Reporters

Impact of Our Reporting

ProPublica Updates Its Database of Museums’ and Universities’ Compliance With Federal Repatriation Law

by Mary Hudetz

February 25, 2025, 6:00 am EST
Virginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities

by Brandi Kellam

March 14, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
Task Force to Consider “Restorative Justice” for Black Families Uprooted by Virginia University’s Expansion

by Brandi Kellam, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO

January 29, 2024, 5:00 pm EST

Series

380 stories published since 2008

“I Don’t Feel Safe”: Black Memphis Residents Report Harassment by Trump’s Police Task Force

by Wendi C. Thomas and Katherine Burgess, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism

November 3, 2025, 5:00 am EST
ProPublica Updates Its Database of Museums’ and Universities’ Compliance With Federal Repatriation Law

by Mary Hudetz

February 25, 2025, 6:00 am EST
The Story of One Mississippi County Shows How Private Schools Are Exacerbating Segregation

by Jennifer Berry Hawes, data analysis by Nat Lash, with additional reporting by Mollie Simon

December 19, 2024, 6:00 am EST
Charleston Unveils Historical Marker at the Site of Firm That Held the Largest Known U.S. Slave Trade

by Jennifer Berry Hawes

October 17, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
Tribal College Campuses Are Falling Apart. The U.S. Hasn’t Fulfilled Its Promise to Fund the Schools.

by Matt Krupnick for ProPublica

October 14, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Cookie & Zo’e: A Georgia Family Wrestles With School Choice 60 Years After the Start of Desegregation

by Liz Moughon

August 22, 2024, 5:05 am EDT
In a Town Full of Segregation Academies, One Black Family Grapples With the Best School Choice for Their Daughter

by Jennifer Berry Hawes, photography by Sarahbeth Maney

August 22, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
These Researchers Study the Legacy of the Segregation Academies They Grew Up Around

by Jennifer Berry Hawes

June 25, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
How an Alabama Town Staved Off School Resegregation

by Jennifer Berry Hawes

May 29, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
How Residents in a Rural Alabama County Are Confronting the Lasting Harm of Segregation Academies

by Jennifer Berry Hawes, photography by Sarahbeth Maney

May 24, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
Segregation Academies Still Operate Across the South. One Town Grapples With Its Divided Schools.

by Jennifer Berry Hawes, photography by Sarahbeth Maney

May 18, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Facing Unchecked Syphilis Outbreak, Great Plains Tribes Sought Federal Help. Months Later, No One Has Responded.

by Anna Maria Barry-Jester

May 7, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
The Family Photographs That Helped Us Investigate How a University Displaced a Black Community

by Logan Jaffe

April 23, 2024, 5:00 am EDT
Virginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities

by Brandi Kellam

March 14, 2024, 6:00 am EDT
Listen to the “Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars” Podcast

by ProPublica and

March 13, 2024, 7:00 am EDT
Task Force to Consider “Restorative Justice” for Black Families Uprooted by Virginia University’s Expansion

by Brandi Kellam, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO

January 29, 2024, 5:00 pm EST
The University Uprooted a Black Neighborhood. Then Its Policies Reduced the Black Presence on Campus.

by Brandi Kellam and Louis Hansen, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO, and Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica

December 22, 2023, 6:00 am EST
“Uprooted”: What a Black Community Lost When a Virginia University Grew

by Brandi Kellam, Christopher Tyree and Louis Hansen, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO, and Lisa Riordan Seville, ProPublica

December 9, 2023, 4:45 pm EST
“Uprooted” Explores How University Expansion and Eminent Domain Led to Black Land Loss

by Brandi Kellam, Christopher Tyree and Louis Hansen, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO, and Lisa Riordan Seville and Mauricio Rodríguez Pons, ProPublica

December 9, 2023, 6:00 am EST
Virginia Lawmaker Calls for Commission to Study State Universities’ History of Uprooting Black Communities

by Brandi Kellam and Louis Hansen, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO

November 10, 2023, 6:00 am EST
Virginia’s Public Universities Have a Long History of Displacing Black Residents

by Louis Hansen, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO

September 11, 2023, 5:00 am EDT
Why the Destruction of a Black Neighborhood Matters to Me — and Should Matter to Everyone

by Brandi Kellam, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO

September 5, 2023, 5:05 am EDT
Erasing the “Black Spot”: How a Virginia College Expanded by Uprooting a Black Neighborhood

by Brandi Kellam and Louis Hansen, Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO

September 5, 2023, 5:00 am EDT
We Carry the Burden of Repatriating Our Ancestors. Here’s What It’s Like to Report on the Process as an Indigenous Journalist.

by Mary Hudetz

August 9, 2023, 6:00 am EDT
A New Illinois Law Shifts Repatriation and Reburial Power to Tribal Nations

by Logan Jaffe

August 5, 2023, 5:00 am EDT
Activists Have Long Called for Charleston to Confront Its Racial History. Tourists Are Now Expecting It.

by Jennifer Berry Hawes, photography by Gavin McIntyre for ProPublica

July 29, 2023, 5:00 am EDT
Sweeping Repatriation Reform Bill Unanimously Passes Illinois House of Representatives

by Logan Jaffe

March 30, 2023, 2:50 pm EDT
Dozens of Museums and Universities Pledge to Return Native American Remains. Few Have Funded the Effort.

by Logan Jaffe, Mary Hudetz and Ash Ngu

March 15, 2023, 5:00 am EDT
The Community of Mothers Who Lost Sons to Police Killings

by Brett Murphy

February 6, 2023, 5:00 am EST
How to Report on the Repatriation of Native American Remains at Museums and Universities Near You

by Ash Ngu

February 3, 2023, 6:00 am EST
How a Tourist Attraction Displaying the Open Graves of Native Americans Became a State-Run Museum

by Logan Jaffe

February 1, 2023, 6:00 am EST
Developers Found Graves in the Virginia Woods. Authorities Then Helped Erase the Historic Black Cemetery.

by Seth Freed Wessler

December 16, 2022, 5:00 am EST
Army Corps of Engineers to Order New Study of Grain Elevator That Could Harm Black Heritage Sites

by Seth Freed Wessler

June 28, 2022, 2:30 pm EDT
White Parents Rallied to Chase a Black Educator Out of Town. Then, They Followed Her to the Next One.

by Nicole Carr

June 16, 2022, 5:00 am EDT
These Native Hawaiians Waited Years for Homes on Their Ancestral Land. Then the Problems Began.

by Rob Perez, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

March 3, 2022, 5:00 am EST
A Police Car Hit a Kid on Halloween 2019. The NYPD Is Quashing a Move to Punish the Officer.

by Eric Umansky

February 1, 2022, 5:00 am EST
Lawmakers Propose $600 Million to Fix Housing Program for Native Hawaiians

by Rob Perez, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

January 21, 2022, 5:00 am EST
Tennessee Judge Who Illegally Jailed Children Plans to Retire, Will Not Seek Reelection

by Alexis Marshall and Meribah Knight, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio, and Ken Armstrong, ProPublica

January 18, 2022, 3:25 pm EST
New Documents Prove Tennessee County Disproportionately Jails Black Children, and It’s Getting Worse

by Meribah Knight, Nashville Public Radio, and Ken Armstrong and Hannah Fresques, ProPublica

December 30, 2021, 6:00 am EST
He Was Filming on His Phone. Then a Deputy Attacked Him and Charged Him With Resisting Arrest.

by Richard A. Webster, WRKF and WWNO, with data analysis by Greg Morton, ProPublica

December 22, 2021, 7:00 am EST
“If Everybody’s White, There Can’t Be Any Racial Bias”: The Disappearance of Hispanic Drivers From Traffic Records

by Richard A. Webster

November 22, 2021, 7:00 am EST
LA Inspector General Looks Into Allegations of Racist Policing by Sheriff’s Deputies on School Grounds

by Emily Elena Dugdale, KPCC/LAist

November 1, 2021, 4:19 pm EDT
Louisiana Deputy Who Slammed a Black Woman on the Pavement Was Named in Multiple Suits, Records Show

by Richard A. Webster, WRKF and WWNO, and Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Times-Picayune | The Advocate

October 21, 2021, 4:30 pm EDT
Three Children Attacked a Black Woman. A Sheriff’s Deputy Arrived — and Beat Her More.

by Richard A. Webster, WRKF and WWNO

October 16, 2021, 6:00 am EDT
We Reported on a County That Has Jailed Kids for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Readers Reacted.

by Brooke Stephenson

October 15, 2021, 5:12 pm EDT
Conservationists See Rare Nature Sanctuaries. Black Farmers See a Legacy Bought Out From Under Them.

by Tony Briscoe, photography by Rashod Taylor

October 14, 2021, 5:00 am EDT
Outrage Grows Over Jailing of Children as Tennessee University Cuts Ties With Judge Involved

by Meribah Knight, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio, and Ken Armstrong, ProPublica

October 13, 2021, 4:50 pm EDT
Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge.

by Meribah Knight, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio, and Ken Armstrong, ProPublica

October 8, 2021, 5:00 am EDT
In a California Desert, Sheriff’s Deputies Settle Schoolyard Disputes. Black Teens Bear the Brunt.

by Emily Elena Dugdale, KPCC/LAist, and Irena Hwang, ProPublica, photography by Bethany Mollenkof

September 29, 2021, 9:00 am EDT
ACLU Calls On Federal Prosecutors to Investigate the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office

by Richard A. Webster, WRKF and WWNO

September 28, 2021, 6:00 pm EDT