racism
Lynched but not forgotten
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice represents a watershed moment in the idea and practice of what a public memorial can be.
Tracy K. Smith’s lovely, unflinching poems
Smith is acutely aware of injustice and violence—and remarkably hopeful about the possibility of reconciliation.
The black social gospel and the civil rights movement
Gary Dorrien chronicles the influential—but often forgotten—work of Mordecai Johnson, Benjamin Mays, and Howard Thurman.
Clarence Jordan's radical experiment in following Jesus
What makes a person able to see evil and stand against it without fear?
The work of reconstruction, 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr.
Of the many absurdities around race and hatred that still exist in our culture, Trump may be the least of them.
Between the world and Ta-Nehisi Coates
How did an Afro-pessimist who doesn't believe in hope become the darling of white liberals?
American lies and why we believe them
Kevin Young and Kurt Andersen each argue that fake news is nothing new.
Is Trump a deviation from American values or an expression of them?
E. J. Dionne, Norman Ornstein, and Thomas Mann see this presidency as a distortion of the country's character. But what if it's the opposite?
No innocent fable
Should I tell my first-grader about the racist, imperialist, and misogynist legacies I detect in the book she's reading?
Pauli Murray’s many identities
The first black female Episcopal priest was also an early proponent of ideas that would develop into black feminism, intersectionality, and more.
A lineage of black female scholars
Black women's contributions continue to be rendered invisible. Brittney Cooper offers a critical intervention.
Five reasons Hillary Clinton’s new book is worth reading—and three reasons it’s worth critiquing
What Happened matters. Here’s why.
Toni Morrison on the invention of the stranger
Morrison examines how Western authors define their culture by estranging others.
From inertia to (small) action
Mai-Anh Le Tran bravely jumps into the space where theory meets practice.
The myth of white innocence in Detroit
Kathryn Bigelow's film lays bare our assumptions about guilt and race.
Are Wendell Berry's Port William stories about racism?
According to Joseph Wiebe, Berry's vision of rural life starts with his reckoning with Kentucky, the Shawnee, and black slavery.
I shouldn't have to be so scared
In 34 years in this country, I've experienced racism. But I've never felt like I feel this week.
Denouncing the evil lie of white supremacy
The right-wing extremists aren't counting on support from most white people. Just silence.
Colonial Americans suffered under a two-tiered justice system. Later they created one.
Since before the revolution, punishment has depended on who’s being punished.