Research & Studies

A new report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies examines how Black-White financial disparities throughout the lifetime contribute to severe economic hardship among Black retirees, who are more than twice as likely as White retirees to live in poverty.

According to a new study, White children whose favorite media displayed a higher share of White characters relative to Black characters said they were less likely to play with a Black child and were less likely to have positive attitudes toward their Black peers.

A new study led by scholars at the University of Washington has found communities that have a larger share of residents living within 10 minutes of a pharmacy have lower racial disparities in medication use. This association was strongest among Black residents.

“Providing access to a quality math education for all Black students requires a transformation of our entire math education system, including dismantling the gatekeepers that perpetuate inequity. It must be grounded in the belief that all students are capable of math success when provided with the proper support,” writes Andrea McChristian, national policy director at Just Equations.

African Americans who live in communities with high levels of hate crimes are more likely to vote via mail-in absentee ballots compared to those from areas with lower levels of hate crimes, according to a new study from scholars at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

In a new study, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have found that Black women have accounted for more than one-fifth of all assault injuries among women in California over the past two decades. Across all ages, assault rates for Black women were 3.82 times higher than those of White women between 2005 and 2022.

According to the report, New York's public school system is the most racially segregated among all U.S. states, followed by Illinois and Pennsylvania. In contrast, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming have the lowest levels of racial segregation in public schools.

After controlling for parents' income, education, and engagement, a new study found African American children's reading scores were comparable to their White peers. However, racial differences in mathematics readiness remained.

Using historical records from Black abolitionist William Still, researchers from Temple University have traced the journeys of nearly 1,000 freedom seekers arriving in Philadelphia in the mid-nineteenth century, revealing insights into their places of origin and how they traveled on the Underground Railroad.

From the Spring 2025 to Spring 2026 semesters, Black undergraduate enrollment increased by 3.4 percent and Black graduate enrollment increased by 6.5 percent. There were also notable increases in the number of Black students who persisted to their second year of postsecondary education.

Although some 75 percent of surveyed leaders at TMCF member institutions reported using AI on a daily or weekly basis in early 2026, many of these colleges and universities operate without an institutional strategy for AI implementation.

Of the 89 English-language streaming original films released in 2025, 16.9 percent featured Black lead actors and/or actresses, 14.3 percent were directed by Black filmmakers, and 8.7 percent were written by Black screenwriters. Overall BIPOC representation among streaming film leads, directors, and writers has declined over the past year.

The 2026 College Financial Grades report from Forbes ranks the fiscal stability of more than 900 private colleges and universities across the country. Morehouse College, Rust College, and Fisk University are the most financial healthy HBCUs in the country, according to the list.

Of the 37 Senate staff directors in committee offices, only one is African American. Among the 88 other Senate committee top staff positions, only two are held by Black Americans.

In 1970, nearly half of all Black people in the United States lived in a large city. Now, only a quarter of Black Americans live in large cities. Over the same time period, the share of Black Americans living in the suburbs rose from 16 percent to 36 percent.

According to a new WalletHub analysis of all 50 states' education systems, Wyoming has the overall most racial equality in education, followed by West Virginia and New Mexico, In contrast, racial equality in education is the lowest in Wisconsin, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

“Higher education remains one of California’s most powerful equity levers for expanding economic opportunity, earning potential, and upward mobility,” the report authors write. “However, the full promise of higher education can only be achieved when Black students are equipped with the resources, support, and institutional commitment to thrive.”

African Americans made up a larger percentage of school students at every level of education compared to the Black percentage of the U.S. population. Black Americans made up a larger percentage of students enrolled in higher education than they did in elementary or secondary education.

In 2025, 79.3 percent of prime age (25 to 54 years old) Black men were employed. This is roughly 8 to 9 percentage points less than the employment rates of similarly aged Hispanic men (87.2 percent), White men (87.4 percent), and Asian men (88.8 percent).

Pulse oximeter devices often give artificially high blood oxygen levels for people with darker skin because the melanin in their skin absorbs light differently than lighter skin. Thus, Black patients who need supplemental oxygen are likely missing out on crucial follow-up care.