Earlier this week, National Geographic held an event at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to kick off its upcoming The Race Issue, a special single-topic issue on race being released in conjunction with the upcoming 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4. The event featured presentations and perspectives on race in American life by storytellers featured in the April 2018 issue of National Geographic.
The Race Issue includes the latest research, powerful anecdotes and NatGeo’s tradition of visual storytelling to explore the human journey through the lens of labels that define, separate and unite us.
Select features include:
- “Skin Deep,” an article on the genetics of race and roots of scientific racism, by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Elizabeth Kolbert and photos by Robin Hammond.
- “The Things That Divide Us,” a look into the evolutionary roots of group bias and current efforts to combat this bias, with text by David Berreby and photos by John Stanmeyer.
- “The Rising Anxiety of White America,” by renowned journalist Michele Norris, who looks to 2044 when America will be less than 50 percent white and details the cultural shift already taking place. Photos by Gillian Laub.
- “The Stop,” a powerful piece featuring anecdotes from black and Hispanic motorists who’ve been pulled over by the police due to the color of their skin. This piece was reported in partnership with ESPN’s The Undefeated, with text by Michael Fletcher and photos by National Geographic photographer Wayne Lawrence.
- “Streets in His Name,” a photographic essay, with text by award-winning journalist Wendi C. Thomas, on streets around the world bearing MLK Jr.’s name and how they reflect the legacy he left behind.
- “A Place of Their Own,” which showcases a new brand of activism at historically black colleges and universities as racial tensions escalate across the country. Text by Clint Smith and photos by Nina Robinson and Ruddy Roye.
*All images credit National Geographic/Sora Devore/Taylor Mickal
