kentucky
June 12, 2015 -
Born into a renowned Kentucky ballad-singing family, Ritchie went on to earn fame for preserving old songs and composing original tunes protesting the destructiveness of coal mining. She died earlier this month at age 92.
June 11, 2015 -
The high-profile coming out of Olympic champion Caitlyn Jenner, formerly Bruce Jenner, as a trans woman has put transgender issues in the spotlight. Transgender people -- especially trans women of color -- face shockingly high levels of violence, and a disproportionate number of recent killings of transgender people took place in the South. But a new initiative is working for change.
June 10, 2015 -
If the Supreme Court rules against Affordable Care Act subsidies this month in King v. Burwell, 6.4 million people could lose their health insurance tax credits — and the majority of them live in the South.
April 22, 2015 -
The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation has launched a "Southern Voices" oral history project to capture the stories of Southern leaders working for social and economic justice. This special Earth Day installment focuses on environmental justice.
April 7, 2015 -
In a letter to Duke CEO Lynn Good, an African-American minister and an environmental advocate criticize the utility's campaign to block the shift to solar power by trying to convince black community leaders that it hurts the poor -- while at the same time fighting legislation to make solar power more affordable.
March 26, 2015 -
This week marked the fifth anniversary of President Obama signing into law the Affordable Care Act, and a "People's Grand Jury" in North Carolina handed down a symbolic indictment of the state's Republican leaders for refusing to expand Medicaid to cover more uninsured low-income people as the law allows.
March 20, 2015 -
The Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities' right to vote, also ensures that limited English proficient voters can fully participate in elections. Enforcing those measures will be critical as the South's language minority population grows.