National

This list serves as a living record, centering Black leadership, innovation, and influence while ensuring today’s history is documented with clarity and intention for future generations.

Released this week, “State of the Dream 2026: From Regression to Signs of a Black Recession” draws on research from the Joint Center and partners including United for a Fair Economy, the Center for Economic Policy Research, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and the Onyx Impact Group. The report situates rising unemployment within a wider retreat from equity-focused policy across nearly every sector shaping economic opportunity.

We honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. each January with speeches, service projects, and by reciting powerful quotes we know by heart. But too many Black families will spend much of MLK Day the same way they spend most Mondays.

Gregory Davis, a resident dean and African American studies scholar, was removed from his position after years-old social media posts were revived by far-right outlets and amplified during Donald Trump’s second presidency. Harvard confirmed Davis was no longer serving in the role and moved quickly to close the matter, even as Davis and his family were given 10 days to vacate university housing during winter.

Claudette Colvin, the civil rights pioneer who refused to give up her seat on a segregated Montgomery bus months before Rosa Parks, died Tuesday from...