Racial Justice
Where Race Matters
“I Cannot Put His Name in the Past Tense”
In the wake of Tyre Nichols, a mother discusses the familiar role of grieving with purpose.
How to Report on the Repatriation of Native American Remains at Museums and Universities Near You
A journalist’s guide to reporting on institutions that still hold Native American remains, using ProPublica’s NAGPRA database as a starting point.
How a Tourist Attraction Displaying the Open Graves of Native Americans Became a State-Run Museum
Generations of visitors learned about the history of Native Americans in Illinois through the eyes of amateur archaeologist Don Dickson. Though the exhibit he built closed in 1992, the Dickson Mounds Museum is still grappling with his legacy.
Developers Found Graves in the Virginia Woods. Authorities Then Helped Erase the Historic Black Cemetery.
The cemetery’s disappearance cleared the way for the expansion of a Microsoft data center, despite layers of federal and state regulations nominally intended to protect culturally significant sites.
Impact of Our Reporting
Sweeping Repatriation Reform Bill Unanimously Passes Illinois House of Representatives
If signed into law, the legislation would create a protected cemetery for the reburial of repatriated Native American ancestors and establish a committee of tribal leaders to review state projects that may disturb culturally significant sites.
Dozens of Museums and Universities Pledge to Return Native American Remains. Few Have Funded the Effort.
Reporting from local newsrooms, based on ProPublica’s “Repatriation Project,” has sparked a wave of apologies and commitment to returning ancestral remains.
Army Corps of Engineers to Order New Study of Grain Elevator That Could Harm Black Heritage Sites
Following our reporting, a federal agency says that a proposed grain elevator in Louisiana could harm a historic plantation and asks why a report was changed to minimize discussion of possible damage.
Series
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
