Research & Studies

“Simply put, the fact that families must have these conversations is stressful,” said lead author Ashley Jackson. “Thus, it’s important for practitioners – teachers, clinicians – to be aware of the structural inequities that their clients must navigate and be thoughtful when offering their clients advice about who to turn to for help in emergent situations.”

Using 20-years-worth of data from blood draws, surveys, and retrospective reports of childhood experiences, a study from scholars at Washington University revealed Black participants experienced more stress throughout the lifetime and had higher levels of inflammation compared to White participants, which may explain Black-White disparities in mortality risk.

Black teens are significantly more likely than their peers to use social media to get news. Nearly six-in-ten Black teens say they use TikTok to get news, compared to less than half of Hispanic and White teens. Black teens are also almost twice as likely to post daily on the video-sharing app.

“America stands at a defining moment. The racial wealth gap, though centuries in the making, need not be centuries in closing,” the report authors write. “The tools, knowledge, and commitment exist—but they must be aligned through institutions with credibility and reach. HBCUs have both.”

From 2019–2020 to 2023–2024, Black representation among California administrators rose from 7.62 percent to 8.04 percent. Notably, there is a greater representation of Black administrators compared to the share of Black students and Black teachers across the state.

In the two-year period following the onset of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, foundation funding to Black-led nonprofits increased; however, the majority of that funding went to a small group of large organizations, while funding to smaller nonprofits remained unchanged. By 2023, overall foundation funding at Black-led nonprofits declined.

A new study led by Rice University's Tony Brown examines the prevalence of “racial realism” among Black Americans. The term refers to an ideological stance and mindset that describes racism as a lasting feature of American life.

In 2023, the number of Black-owned employer businesses in the United States surpassed 200,000 for the first time. From 2017 to 2023, Black employer firms grew by 62 percent. However, Black-owned business are still just 3.4 percent of all U.S. employer firms.

According to a new study from scholars at the University at Buffalo, census-tracts with historic redlining, higher scores of contemporary structural racism, and higher shares of Black residents are significantly associated with higher diabetes prevalence.

According to a new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Black women are among the most active participants in the U.S. labor force. However, there are still significant disparities in educational attainment, income, and wealth compared to White and Asian women.

“While hegemonic masculinity emphasizes emotional stoicism and self-reliance, racialized masculinity intensifies these demands by portraying Black men as inherently resilient and unbreakable,” the authors write. “As a result, many participants expressed stigma around help-seeking, viewing emotional vulnerability as incompatible with being a strong Black man.”

“If you’re developing cures for cancer, but it’s not getting into the hands of everybody who needs it, then you haven’t succeeded,” said lead author Olivia Lynch, postdoctoral research fellow at the Yale School of Medicine.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund's Dr. N. Joyce Payne Research Center recently published a new report discussing the skills and structural conditions necessary to retain successful HBCU presidents, who currently average less than five years in office.

Over the twenty-first century, the number of Black immigrants in the United States has more than doubled. Over a third of Black immigrants have at least a bachelor's degree, with 16 percent holding a master's degree or higher.

Contrary to the widespread belief that men are more competitive than women overall, a new study from scholars at New York University Abu Dhabi has found this generalization does not extend to the Black population. Their research revealed that Black women are just as competitive and risk tolerant as Black men.

Effective July 1, there will be new annual and aggregate borrowing limits on federal loans used for graduate programs. According to a new analysis from the Century Foundation, these limits are far below the median cost of attending both public and private medical institutions, which suggests many students will need to take on private loans or choose not to attend medical school at all.

Six-in-ten Black and Hispanic teens say they use AI chatbots to get help with their schoolwork, compared to roughly half of their White peers. Nearly four-in-ten Black teens say AI chatbots are extremely or very helpful, and almost one-fifth say the technology helps with all or most of their homework.

The analysis documents how the second Trump administration has transformed how the federal government views and enforces civil rights and discusses how those changes will impact Black Americans in the future.

In a focus-group study of Black alumni from undergraduate and graduate programs at for-profit colleges and universities, nearly all participants said they would not choose to attend the same school in hindsight.

“This research helps to quantify HBCUs' impact on their local communities, which we think should be an important finding for policymakers, especially considering that about half of HBCUs are public universities that are highly dependent on state legislatures for their funding,” said Russell Weinstein of the University of Illinois.