Since the beginning of civilization, storytelling has helped preserve history for future generations. With the invention of the printing press and the rise of journalism, storytelling and fact-checking took on new importance. For Black Americans in particular, journalism has been essential, not only for documenting historical events, but for our ultimate survival.
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From Ida B. Wells’ investigations of lynchings to the citizen journalism of a teenager who recorded George Floyd’s final moments, these acts of bearing witness have helped save and protect lives, especially Black lives. Today, we’re looking back at the investigative work that has and continues to shape the Black experience in this country.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s ‘Red Record’ (1890s)
Before Black journalists were widely respected in the field, Ida B. Wells-Barnett worked to uncover the truth behind the lynchings of Black people in the late 19th century, Harvard reported. Her “A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings in the United States” outlined white mob violence against African Americans, proving that lynchings were not justifiable punishment for crimes committed by Black people. Instead, her work confirmed the deadly violence was often a tactic used to suppress Black economic and political growth.
The Green Book: The ‘Bible of Black Travel’ (1936–1966)
During a time when traveling through the wrong town as a Black person could welcome harassment or even a lynching by a crowd of white Americans, one postal worker published a national record of businesses, hotels, gas stations and more safe places for Black travelers, NPR reported. Victor Hugo Green first released ” The Negro Motorist Green Book” in 1936, and it undoubtedly kept Black folks safe from potential harm.
The ‘Double V’ Campaign (1942)
James Gratz Thompson, a Black journalist and World War II veteran, is often credited as the originator of the “Double V” Campaign after writing a letter to the Pittsburgh Courier, according to the National Park Service. He called out the discrimination Black soldiers faced in the U.S. while also being asked to fight for freedom for others during WWII. In that letter, he posed a question which sparked a movement: “Should I sacrifice to live half-American?”
The Courier soon began promoting the idea of “Double Victory,” a military win abroad and equality and justice at home. The movement put pressure on the military to integrate troops.
Mamie Till-Mobley and the Funeral of Emmett Till (1955)
Emmett Till was only 14 years old when he was brutally beaten, tortured and killed by a racist white man and his brother, the FBI reported. When Till’s mutilated body was finally uncovered, his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, insisted on an open-casket funeral to show the world the reality of racial violence. Photos of Till were published by Jet Magazine, and national attention to his murder laid the framework for the budding Civil Rights Movement.
Bloody Sunday Violence Airing Live (1965)
As more than 600 demonstrators, including the late Ga. Rep. John Lewis, marched for equal civil rights in Selma, Ala., one of many hubs of the Civil Rights era, they were confronted by law enforcement, who used billy clubs and tear gas to attack and disperse them, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Dozens were injured and bloodied as the scene now known as “Bloody Sunday” was broadcasted to American homes nation-wide. The coverage helped galvanize public opinion, directly accelerating the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
COINTELPRO Exposed (1971)
While the rest of America was distracted by the March 8, 1971 “Fight of the Century,” the legendary boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, a rag-tag team of Americans would use the distraction to break into an FBI office in Pennsylvania, according to the Zinn Project. The cab driver, a day care provider and two professors ran off with over 1,000 classified documents which were then mailed to several newspapers and outlets across the country, namely the Washington Post.
The documents revealed the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program– COINTELPRO– often engaged in illegal activity, including the infiltration of Black-led organizations like the Black Panther Party. The documents also revealed the FBI’s actions often led to the murders of Black leaders, activists and civilians.
The Tuskegee Syphilis Study Exposure (1972)
On July 24, 1972, reporter for the Associated Press, Jean Heller, revealed the truth about the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, the decades-long, unethical study conducted by the government on Black people– without their knowledge or consent, according to AP News. Beginning in 1932, hundreds of Black men were enrolled in the program and misled to believe the medical treatment they were receiving was actually helping them. In reality, researchers were observing the natural progression of untreated syphilis.
The public exposure of the experiment sparked immediate widespread outrage, leading to the ultimate end of the program and significant reforms in medical ethics.
The Discovery of Henrietta Lacks (1970s–1990s)
Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951 when she was only 31 years old. But while receiving treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., one of few hospitals willing to treat Black folks at the time, a sample of her cells was stolen without her knowledge, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Lacks was a mother of five whose large, malignant cervical tumor quickly claimed her life only months after her diagnosis. But little did she know her legacy would live on forever through her cancer cells. Researchers found her cells were resilient and could be reproduced indefinitely, according to the university.
It was’t until one journalist, Rebecca Skloot began investigating her story that the truth about Lacks’ cells were actually exposed, Virginia Tech reported. In her 2010 book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” the reporter uncovered the unethical practices of the hospital while also donating money to Lacks’ family. It’s her work that led to legal settlements in favor of Lacks and global accountability over the treatment of Back medical patients.
Exposure of Cancer Alley (1980s)
In the late ’80s, Black people living along a 85-mile strip between Baton Rouge and New Orleans began reporting serious medical conditions, according to the Human Rights Watch. But it wasn’t until journalists and activists like Benjamin Chavis began documenting the toxic waste and petrochemical plants present in Black neighborhoods that folks began to pay attention to the harmful impact of environmental racism.
The exposure led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Justice in 1992.
Removing to HIV/AIDS Stigma
The 1980s also marked the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. In 1981, the CDC first reported several cases in young, gay men in Los Angeles, marking the first public federal recognition of the disease. Over time, a stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS began to cause detrimental effects for those with the disease, especially Black gay men.
A story by New York Times reporter Jeffrey Schmalz– who later died from AIDS-related complications in 1993– helped dismantle this stigma by exposing the causes, treatment options and demanding governmental action.
The Exoneration of the Central Park Five (1989–2002)
When five Black and Latino teens were wrongly convicted of the rape and assault of a white female jogger in New York City’s Central Park, the media was quick to socially convict Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise, PBS reported. But after they each served years behind bars, investigative work finally began questioning the truth behind their coerced confessions and an overall lack of evidence.
Eventually, this led to the full exoneration and a million-dollar settlement for the five men.
The “Cocaine vs. Crack” Sentencing Gap (1990s)
During the height of the War on Drugs, journalists and researchers played key roles in acknowledging the difference between crack rock and powder cocaine. The two forms of the drug are pharmacologically similar, but federal law historically punished crack offenses more harshly than cocaine offenses, APP reported. Given the fact that crack was widely accessible in Black neighborhoods compared to white ones, the disparities sent off alarms for local communities who felt the pain of the drug the most.
This eventually led to the Fair Sentencing Act, the 2010 legislation which helped reduced disparities while also focusing on prison and sentencing reform.
Harriet A. Washington’s Medical Apartheid
In 2006, Harriet A. Washington published the first comprehensive account of the medical exploitation of Black people. Her investigations uncovered loads of documented scientific racism and unethical experimentation against Black folks fuel a growing divide between Black Americans and the healthcare system, NPR reported.
The Murder of George Floyd (2020)
While George Floyd’s death was not the first time a Black person’s killing was filmed, it’s the citizen journalism of Darnella Frazier that led to Floyd’s final words, “I can’t breathe,” being documented, NPR reported. The 17-year-old was one of many at the scene who pulled out their phone once Floyd was detained by Minneapolis police. His death– paired with that of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubrey and other Black men and women– sparked the 2020 Black Lives Matter Movement.
Exposing the Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 (2020–2022)
When the COVID-19 pandemic devastated the globe, Black people notably began dying at disproportionate rates. It wasn’t until years after the pandemic that researchers and journalists alike fully investigated any racial biases that might have led to the unbalanced treatment of Black patients, the National Library of Medicine reported. Outlets like The Atlantic pushed for race-based data, holding a mirror up to researchers claiming to be colorblind. In the end, it was discovered that Black folks were dying at almost three times the rate of white Americans.
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