Authors & Essays

As America marks its 250th year since its founding in a pivotal election year, we find ourselves at an inflection point. The fight for our democracy, our civil rights, and our fundamental right to quality, affordable health care has rarely felt more urgent.

Black men in America have the shortest life expectancy of any racial or gender group in the United States.

That is not a new statistic. It is a sustained reality.

When a federal court vacated the U.S.

As the writer Zora Neale Hurston eloquently observed, “There are years that ask questions, and there are years that answer.”

Nineteen sixty-five was one of those years that answered. And 2026 is shaping up to be its heir.

As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, the question posed in the 2026 State of Black America®, Is the American Dream Dead?, is not theoretical.