African-American Coverage

City of Raleigh Museum to host Emancipation Day

Grady Bussey, African American historian and the vice chair of the Friends of the City of Raleigh Museum, talks about the history of Emancipatoin Day and what to expect.

Once-thriving Black Wall Street in Durham legacy endures today

Black Wall Street was a thriving African-American business district in Durham, North Carolina, during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Jelia Hepner, WRAL multiplatform producer

African American cultural arts festival underway in Raleigh this weekend

The African American Cultural Arts Festival is in full swing in downtown Raleigh.

See WRAL anchors at the African American Cultural Festival in Raleigh

Rain from Hurricane Idalia will move out of North Carolina this weekend just in time for the African American Cultural Festival.

NC Freedom Parks officially opens Wednesday

The site is the first park in North Carolina to honor the African-American struggle for freedom. The park is located at the corner of North Wilmington Street and East Lane Street.

'A beacon of hope': NC Freedom Park opens Wednesday in honor of African Americans' struggle for freedom

The North Carolina Freedom Park opened Wednesday in downtown Raleigh.

Eric Miller, WRAL reporter and Destinee Patterson, WRAL reporter

African American Cultural Festival returns in September

The African American Cultural Festival of Raleigh and Wake County will be held Sept. 2-3, 2023, in downtown Raleigh. WRAL is a proud community partner of this event.

HOLLAND COTTER: At slave port, new museum is tribute to Afro-American journey

Saturday, July 1, 2023 -- In Charleston Harbor, where the initiating shots of the Civil War were fired -- Fort Sumter is distantly visible -- I'm on the site of a former shipping pier known as Gadsden's Wharf. Here, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, ships carrying tens of thousands of enslaved Africans deposited their human cargo, a population that would, through unthinkable adversity and creative perseverance, utterly transform what "America" meant, and means.

Holland Cotter, New York Times

'Across the Field', a new book with African American church history

Scott Mason visits the town of Edenton for Tar Heel Traveler. 'Across the Field' is a new book about an African American church full of beautiful history. It also includes a woman from across the street who captured the church in dramatic photographs and published a book.

List: Triangle Juneteenth events

The Triangle offers an enormous range of opportunities to celebrate Juneteenth - whether by taking tours of museums and historic sites or enjoying live music, food and celebrations.

People of color seeing surge in overdose deaths at rate 3 to 5 times higher than in 2015

A spike in fentanyl overdose deaths for people of color is causing concern in their respective communities.

Julian Grace, WRAL anchor/reporter and Ali Ingersoll, Investigative Data Journalist

Fentanyl causing more deaths for people of color in recent years

WRAL Data Trackers found the highest death rates among American Indian and African American populations in 2020.

Inside look at North Carolina Freedom Park ahead of opening this summer

The North Carolina Freedom Park is set to open in the summer of 2023 on the corner of North Wilmington Street and East Lane Street in Raleigh.

Wisconsin high school introduces AP African studies program

Beloit Memorial High School will make history as the first school in Rock County, Wisconsin, to introduce an Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course.

2022 African American Cultural Festival underway in Raleigh

Entertainment, artists and vendors stretched down Fayetteville Street. It comes at an important time for Black-owned businesses making a comeback from the worst of the pandemic.

African American Cultural Festival returns to downtown Raleigh

Entertainment, artists and vendors stretched down Fayetteville Street. It comes at an important time for Black-owned businesses making a comeback from the worst of the pandemic.

Adam Owens, WRAL anchor/reporter

Annual festival celebrates African American culture

The 13th Annual African American Cultural Festival of Raleigh and Wake County is happening Sept. 3-4, 2022, in downtown Raleigh.

Re-enactors honor the service of the United States Colored Volunteers in New Bern

It's an unusual sight: African Americans dressed in the blue uniform of Union troops, marching in public in New Bern. They are reenactors who want people to know of the bravery of the United States Colored Volunteers who served in the Civil War.

Black Durham leaders set example: Trust the vaccine

Several Black Durham leaders are getting the opportunity to get their vaccine early in hopes their experience will resonate with the larger community.

Durham ramps up messaging to reach Black community hesitant to get COVID-19 vaccine

Durham County is 37% black, but so far only 23% of those vaccines recipients are.

Lora Lavigne, WRAL Durham reporter

African American Cultural Celebration goes virtual

This year's theme of the African American Cultural Celebration is Health and Healing. The event will be presented on digital platforms only and will showcase the contributions of African Americans to North Carolina's history.

The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. Reverberate in a Tumultuous Time

He lived and died in a time of tumult and a racial awakening, so perhaps it is no surprise that the 35th national celebration of the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday has particular resonance amid one of the most traumatic seasons in memory: A raging pandemic. Protest and civil unrest after the killing of Black people by the police. A momentous election. And an insurrection.

Audra D.S. Burch, John Eligon and Michael Wines, New York Times

Black Doctor Said Her COVID-19 Care Was Biased

Lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen tube hugging her nostrils, the Black patient gazed into her smartphone and, with a strained voice, complained of an experience all too common among Black people in America.

John Eligon, New York Times

Fact check: Trump falsely says Biden called Black kids 'super predators'

President Donald Trump claims that Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden once referred to Black kids as "super predators." PolitiFact can find no evidence of that.

Miriam Valverde, PolitiFact reporter

Pope Francis appoints America's first Black cardinal, Wilton Gregory

Last year, Wilton Gregory made history as Washington, DC's first African-American archbishop.

By Kelly Murray, CNN