Civil rights Coverage

Republican front-runner for North Carolina governor attacked Civil Rights Movement: 'So many freedoms were lost'

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the state's first Black lieutenant governor and the GOP front-runner for the 2024 gubernatorial race, repeatedly lambasted the "so-called" 1960s civil rights movement, lamenting that "so many freedoms were lost during the civil rights movement."

By Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN

Historic marker honors Black students arrested in 1960 sit-in in former Cameron Village in Raleigh

Inspired by lunch counter protests in Greensboro, 130 African American students entered eight Raleigh establishments and requested service. Of those protesters, 41 students from both Shaw and St. Augustine's universities were arrested for trespassing while peacefully protesting discriminatory policies.

Woman at center of Emmett Till killing dies at 88

Carolyn Bryant Donham has died. Donham was the woman at the center of the Emmett Till saga.

Jerry Mitchell, Mississippi Today

When Malcom X came to Durham: Floyd McKissick's son recalls 1963 debate on racial integration

From a young age, Floyd McKissick, Jr. lived the Civil Rights history most of us only read about.

Ken Smith, WRAL anchor/reporter

Durham activist will be honored on US quarter

Pauli Murray was a lawyer, Episcopal priest and a staunch civil, queer and women's rights advocate.

Bipartisan support to vote out NC's Civil War-era voter test

In 1899, after the Civil War, North Carolina and many other southern states added a literacy test to their constitutions as a way to prevent Black voters from being able to exercise their right to vote.

Voters could have chance to repeal NC's Jim Crow-era voting test in 2024

North Carolina lawmakers are trying again this year to remove a Jim Crow-era voting test from the state's constitution. This year, the amendment's chances of making it onto voters' ballots may be better than in the past.

Laura Leslie, WRAL capitol bureau chief

NC A&T honors men who, 63 years ago, sat at all-white lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro

Feb. 1, 2023, marked 63 years since four Black college students sat at an all-white lunch counter at Woolworth's in Greensboro.

Meet the Press flashback: MLK, other guests discuss civil rights (Aug. 21, 1966)

In a special edition of Meet the Press in August 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young Jr., Stokely Carmichael, James Meredith and Floyd McKissick join a live panel discussion.

Families seek justice after Raleigh police wrongfully raided their homes

Two families, leaders with Emancipate NC and lawyers spoke about a May 2020 raid, in which they say Raleigh police officers burst into their apartments without warning. They say the officers were at the wrong address.

'It's been traumatizing': Families seek justice, claim Raleigh police wrongfully raided their homes in 2020

Two families, leaders with Emancipate NC and lawyers spoke about a May 2020 raid, in which they say Raleigh police officers burst into their apartments without warning. They say the officers were at the wrong address.

Matt Talhelm, WRAL reporter

Multiple families sue city of Raleigh over 'no-knock' raid on the wrong home

Three families are suing the the city of Raleigh after police officers raided the wrong home in May 2020.

Brett Knese, WRAL reporter

NCCU students honor MLK with day of service

NC Central students started the weekend honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and they sacrificed their free time to work with Rise Against Hunger, making care packages for those in need.

On the Record: Fighting against rising antisemitism in America

A look at the rise in antisemitic sentiments in America and the fight against them.

Rocky Mount pays tribute to Martin Luther King 'I have a dream speech' that happened in the city

Nine months before Martin Luther King Jr. famously marched on Washington, D.C. to address millions of people on the National Mall, he was invited by Pastor Dudley of Mt. Zion Baptist Church to speak in Rocky Mount.

Rocky Mount celebrates 60-year anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s first delivery of the 'I Have A Dream' speech

Nine months before Martin Luther King Jr. famously marched on Washington, D.C. to address millions of people on the National Mall, he was invited by Pastor Dudley of Mt. Zion Baptist Church to speak in Rocky Mount.

Keenan Willard, WRAL eastern North Carolina reporter

Expert weighs in on Fayetteville police body camera video

WRAL News spoke with former Raleigh Police Officer Lee Turner, who now practices law. His take is the first two responding officers, and Dunlap, could have behaved differently.

Body camera video shows Fayetteville officers grab, cuff woman as she screams for help

Fayetteville police on Tuesday released video of an incident that is now the subject of a lawsuit.

Gilbert Baez, WRAL Fayetteville reporter

Historical marker memorializing Black victims of lynching unveiled in Chatham County

A special ceremony was held as the marker was unveiled outside the Chatham County Government Annex in Pittsboro.

Unpublished memoir of Emmett Till's accuser raises new questions

The White woman who accused Emmett Till of making advances toward her says the Black teen admitted it was him when her husband and two other men brought Emmett to her, according to a 99-page unpublished draft memoir.

Justin Gamble and Jacquelyne Germain, CNN

First look at the memoir of the woman whose accusations led to the lynching of Emmett Till

In an unpublished memoir obtained by The Associated Press, Carolyn Bryant Donham says she was unaware of what would happen to the 14-year-old Emmett Till.

Dozens in Raleigh searching for woman at center of decades-old arrest warrant in Emmett Till's murder

Dozens of people gathered in Raleigh on Wednesday to demand a decades-old arrest warrant be served on Carolyn Bryant Donham.

Aaron Thomas, WRAL reporter

Demonstrators in Raleigh demand justice for Emmett Till

Dozens of people gathered in Raleigh on Wednesday to demand a decades-old arrest warrant be served on Carolyn Bryant Donham.

Emmett Till family: We won't rest until justice is served

Calls for justice are growing louder in the Emmett Till murder case from more than 60 years ago in Mississippi.

Raleigh woman at the center of unserved warrant linked to Emmett Till's death

She's nearing 90 years old, but allegations of her ties to the kidnapping and murder from nearly 7 decades ago have recently bubbled up.

Chelsea Donovan, WRAL reporter