Race

The Goodwin family, including Regina Goodwin, in a 1970s photo.

The Tulsa Race Massacre is recounted through family memories in 'Built from the Fire'

5:01am June 10, 2023

One family, the Goodwins, was forever changed by the attacks in Oklahoma more than a century ago and worked to ensure Tulsa acknowledged the truth about what happened.

Queue Listen Now

First Strokes is a New York-based organization working to get teens in the water safely — and to try to remove the barriers to learning. Above, a First Strokes class at Hill Regional Career High School in New Haven, Conn.

Many teens don't know how to swim. A grassroots organization is trying to change that

4:43pm June 09, 2023

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

First Strokes, a nonprofit based in New York City, is helping students learn water safety skills and how to swim. They offer free swimming lessons for teens — taught by other teens.

National

A woman remembers visiting her grandmother, a member of the Shoshone Nation in Utah

7:52am June 09, 2023

by Jo Corona

Growing up in the 1950s, Gwen Timbimboo Davis, a Native American, spent most summers visiting the reservation where her grandmother lived. She talks to her daughter about her memories.

Queue Listen Now

In a surprise decision, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the 1965 Voting Rights Act

4:22pm June 08, 2023

by Nina Totenberg

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped back from the brink of totally gutting the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, reaffirmed the precedent interpreting how legislative districts must be drawn.

Books
Arts

'The Talk' is an epic portrait of an artist making his way through hardships

2:28pm June 08, 2023

by Tahneer Oksman

Despite its weighty, multi-tiered approach — this is not, on multiple levels, an easy read — Darrin Bell's debut graphic memoir is difficult to put down.

Education

Study: Most textbooks don't include key events in U.S. history that involve Latinos

12:10pm June 07, 2023

NPR's A Martinez speaks with Viviana López Green, senior director of the racial equity initiative at UnidosUS, about the lack of Latino history in high school textbooks.

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National

Black immigrants to the U.S. are growing in numbers, but they don't feel understood

3:37pm June 06, 2023

by Leah Donnella

Tennessee's Black immigrant population is increasing. Many of those immigrants are pushing to raise awareness of their cultures and histories.

Queue Listen Now

The silhouette AR-15-style rifle is displayed on signage for the Firearms Unknown Guns & Ammo gun store in Yuma, Ariz., last week.

Health & Safety

Gun deaths hit their highest level ever in 2021, with 1 person dead every 11 minutes

3:10pm June 06, 2023

by Scott Neuman

A new report released by Johns Hopkins University shows that gun homicides rose 7.6% from 2020, a year that set a previous U.S. record. Firearms are the leading cause of death for those under age 25.

Navajo citizen Lorenda Long, who attended a federal boarding school as a young girl, is a supporter of students at Riverside Indian School today.

Federal Indian boarding schools still exist, but what's inside may be surprising

6:00am June 06, 2023

The schools were tools of the U.S. government's attempts to erase tribal culture. But the few that remain have become places Native families want their children to attend.

Books

Darrin Bell's graphic memoir 'The Talk' references a shared experience among Black parents

7:49am June 04, 2023

by Ayesha Rascoe

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial Darrin Bell about his graphic memoir, "The Talk." The title refers to talks about racism Black parents often give their kids.