The 19th • 22nd September 2023

We asked book lovers to reflect on Hispanic Heritage Month. Here’s what they recommended.

For Hispanic Heritage Month, The 19th spoke with lifelong book lovers — from those working in publishing full time to those who have dedicated years to making book-related content on social media — about the themes that resonate with them in works by Latinx authors and the books that best represent those ideas.

The Latin American diaspora consists of multiple complex identities from many different places. Though they live in the United States, the interviewees also represent Cuba, Puerto Rico,

The 19th • 6th September 2023

Ta’Kiya Young's shooting highlights sobering reality for Black pregnant women in America

Nadine Young left her home in Ohio under the crushing weight of grief. By the end of 1989, the young mother of four had lost both of her parents, a stillborn baby girl and her sister. She packed up and moved to Mississippi for nearly a decade, where she gave birth to a fifth son. She taught her boys to be respectable and to always do what police asked.

“I had major, major talks with them, so if they had any encounters they complied and did whatever they needed to do so they wouldn’t lose their

The 19th • 9th August 2023

These Louisiana sisters took their fight against big industry in ‘Cancer Alley’ to court — and won

Twin sisters Jo and Joy Banner are celebrating a win in their fight against big industry in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” In a court hearing this month, Judge J. Sterling Snowdy ruled against St. John the Baptist Parish, declaring a 33-year-old industrial zoning ordinance null and void based on a procedural issue. The decision effectively stands in the way of a proposed grain export facility that would compound pollution in the area and threaten its historic landscape.

“This is a big moment for [

The 19th • 27th July 2023

Credit hurdles for transgender and nonbinary people could be cleared under proposed bill

Proposed legislation could help clear significant credit reporting hurdles for transgender and nonbinary people. Democratic Sens. John Fetterman and Tina Smith will introduce a bill Thursday requiring credit reporting agencies to use only a person’s current name in their credit reports, Fetterman’s office shared with The 19th exclusively.

The 19th • 17th July 2023

‘We’re truly not valued’: In New Orleans, Black mothers are increasingly the victims of gun violence

Asia Davis got a special gift on Mother’s Day in 2017: her first and only child, Myles Karter Davis. Six years later, Myles' birthday would fall on Mother's Day again, but Asia would not be there to celebrate it. She was 1 of 8 Black mothers killed in New Orleans in less than 7 weeks.

The 19th • 27th June 2023

'Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters' explores the legacy of the Black musician who made 'Hound Dog' a hit

June is a month of joy, resistance and celebration. In addition to Pride, a celebration of queer identities that stemmed from the Stonewall uprising, June is also Black Music Month.

Black musical traditions, originating in Africa and remixed in the many places Africans were distributed, have left their mark on music worldwide. From

The 19th • 19th May 2023

Louisiana sisters fight to protect their community's health and enslaved ancestors' history

WALLACE, La.— There are only a handful of homes situated on Alexis Court, but there are a whole lot of memories.

At one end of the short street, facing the Mississippi River, is Fee-Fo-Lay Café, run by twin sisters Jo and Joy Banner. The Fifolet, according to local lore, is a spirit that haunts the swamps and guards the treasures of pirate Jean Lafitte. Growing up, the Banner sisters

The 19th • 19th May 2023

Long excluded from the Mississippi statehouse, Black women fight on the margins for democracy

JACKSON, Miss. — Black women in Jackson, Mississippi, are busy. They always have been. Now, largely through the work of coalition building and political organizing, Black women in Jackson are fighting a wave of repression that many compare to the days of Jim Crow, standing on the shoulders of those who came before them.

The 19th • 8th May 2023

We asked book lovers to reflect on AAPI Heritage Month. Here’s what they recommended.

For Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, The 19th spoke with scholars, bookstore owners and book lovers about the themes that resonate with them in works by AAPI authors, and books that best represent those ideas.

The term AAPI refers to people who can trace their roots to any of dozens of countries in Asia, the largest continent of the world, as well as those who trace their roots to more than 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The list of recommended books reflects the

The 19th • 14th April 2023

After national spotlight, here’s what hasn’t changed in Tennessee — and what might

As the dust settles in Tennessee after the past few weeks, there have been allusions to change. But still, much remains the same.

There was a mass school shooting in Nashville, a protest over gun violence that left two Black lawmakers expelled from their seats and then their return to the legislature. Republican Gov. Bill Lee slightly changed his tune on gun control measures, though he is already receiving pushback from his party and gun lobbyists.

But the cameras have left and, while promises

The 19th • 10th April 2023

Lorraine Hansberry’s family says Chicago’s racist policies seized their land. Now they’re seeking reparations.

The 1959 Broadway debut of “A Raisin in the Sun” brought America inside a crowded Chicago apartment where the dreams of Black families went to die.

And while Lorraine Hansberry was making history as the first Black woman to have a play produced on Broadway, she and her family back in Chicago were embroiled in a fight that reflected the role of racism in both her life and the conditions creating the conflict of

The 19th • 8th April 2023

'We will not be defeated': Vice President Kamala Harris stands with expelled representatives in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — A day after Tennessee Democratic representatives Justin J. Pearson and Justin Jones were expelled from the state legislature, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at Jones’ alma mater — Fisk University, a historically Black institution — delivering a message of praise for the lawmakers and an indictment of the Republican supermajority that expelled

The 19th • 7th April 2023

Teachers joined the protest in Nashville. Here’s what they want.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Two imposing wooden doors and a horde of state troopers stood between hundreds of protesters inside the state Capitol and Republican lawmakers, who voted Thursday to expel two Black colleagues and in favor of measures that would mean more guns in school buildings.

Another set of troopers, metal detectors and ornamental columns stood between hundr

The 19th • 6th April 2023

Tennessee House votes to expel two members; vote to remove Johnson fails

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — State Rep. Gloria Johnson avoided expulsion on Thursday but two of her fellow Democrats did not, as members of the state House voted on measures to remove them from the legislative body.

Johnson and state Reps. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis and Justin Jones of Nashville last week called for the legislature to act to address gun violence, doing so in the chamber in a way that Republican

The 19th • 8th March 2023

‘Moving unapologetically to the forefront’: How an archive is preserving the Black feminist movement

While White women had their eyes set on the ballot, Black women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led a multifaceted movement that would benefit not only themselves, but American society as a whole.

The 19th • 6th March 2023

Minnesota House passes measure to create nation’s first Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women

Minnesota’s House of Representatives passed a bill last month that would create an Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women to address disparities in missing persons cases. If the bill makes it through the Senate and is signed by the governor, it would create the first office of its kind focused on Black women in the nation.

The 19th • 23rd February 2023

Long burdened by environmental racism, activists in Memphis are turning the tide

First, the butterflies disappeared. Then, the family dog died; and then the neighbors did, too.

But Marquita Bradshaw’s biggest loss of those adolescent days was probably her great-grandmother. Susie Hall died in 1995 after developing uterine and kidney cancers.

The 19th • 22nd February 2023

‘We are all bound up together’: ’s fellows on the life and legacy of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

On this date 112 years ago, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper — author, poet, abolitionist and suffragist — died at the age of 85. As the “mother of African American journalism,” Harper has inspired generations of Black writers and media makers, and The 19th’s HBCU fellowship program is named in her honor.

Our fellows are a living testament to Harper’s enduring l

The 19th • 17th February 2023

Mothers of the movement: Black environmental justice activists reflect on the women who have paved the way

When Leah Thomas was earning her degree in environmental studies, she found that what she was learning in college and her personal experience did not match up.

Thomas, who is Black, noticed that the environmentalists she was studying did not look like her, nor did they look like the Black women she knew to be integral in the fight for clean water, air and la

The 19th • 16th February 2023

We asked lovers of Black literature to curate a Black resistance reading list. Here’s what they chose.

In 1926, when Carter G. Woodson started Negro History Week — which has since evolved into Black History Month — his vision was to preserve the contributions of Black people to the history of the world and combat their erasure from a fuller narrative.

The 19th • 5th February 2023

'I wiped my eyes and wrote the facts'

On the eve of Tyre Nichols’ funeral, I could not calm my nerves. Memphis was covered in ice, and there seemed to be no end to the freezing rain falling from the sky.

I realized I would have a front row seat to history the next morning, but I did not want to be there.

Who would?

As a reporter, I felt tasked with the duty of accurately representing this funeral and the vile circumstances that led to it. As a Black reporter, I felt a duty to bear witness to his unjust death and the burden of grief that came with it.

The 19th • 1st February 2023

Tyre Nichols’ funeral service marked by tears, a somber sisterhood and the call to ‘take action’

Weeks after Tyre Nichols’ desperate calls for his mother could not reach her, mothers from across the country came to Memphis Wednesday to support RowVaughn Wells at her son’s funeral.

The 19th • 7th December 2022

A new museum and clinic will honor the enslaved “Mothers of Gynecology”

33 S. Perry Street in Montgomery, Alabama, is a site of harrowing sacrifice that birthed modern gynecology. But though many know the breakthroughs that happened there, the dozens of enslaved women and girls who suffered for the medical standards that exist today are often erased.

Artist Michelle Browder is giving that space, and those women, a chance to speak. She purchased the site in February with plans to honor the memories of these women and girls. Less than a mile away from the state capit

Daily Memphian • 31st May 2022

Meet Tony Hawkins, the Westwood artist giving back through public art

Artist Tony Hawkins grew up in Westwood and wants to give back to the community through his art — a reflection of the talent that comes from the southwest Memphis neighborhood.