Our Story

OUR STORY

Our mission, like those who came before us, is to leverage the power of journalism to turn public opinion against racist policies and ideas. We expose the history, harms, and pervasiveness of racial inequity and injustice in all aspects of life, and explore solutions for its abolition. From health disparities and the wealth gap to climate inequality and police violence, The Emancipator is confronting the biggest racial justice issues of our time.

The Emancipator produces award-winning multimedia content and commentary, as well as community events and experiences. It is a dynamic platform where the voices of the movement, and its intersections, converge. By bringing together many different communities and ideas on a single platform, The Emancipator harnesses their collective power to drive positive and equitable change for all.

WHY WE EXIST

Against the backdrop of a surge in racism, xenophobia, and white supremacist violence, mainstream media has largely failed to meet the urgency of the moment. Despite the so-called “racial reckoning,” formulaic approaches to racial stories, problematizing people of color, surface-level coverage of racism, and the routine overlooking of leaders and organizations working toward solutions persist.

We’ve been down this road before.

When 19th-century newspapers failed to expose and confront the horrors of slavery, a new abolitionist press stepped up to answer the call: the first, our namesake, The Emancipator (est. 1820). Through a steady drumbeat of narratives, education, research, and commentary, these anti-slavery publications led a moral and conceptual awakening that swept the world—forever transforming society as a result.

Cut to 2020.

The highly publicized murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor seemed to awaken many Americans to the police violence and killings that have long plagued Black, Brown, and Native communities nationwide. At the same time, Covid-19 was disproportionately devastating communities of color, laying bare the staggering racial inequities that persist in healthcare and across nearly every other aspect of American life. Racism was on full display. The United States and much of the world clearly had a long way to go to live up to the promise of freedom and equity for everyone.

Those challenges led our co-founders—historian Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and journalist Bina Venkataraman—to ponder a simple question that would have a profound impact: If 19th-century abolitionists could advocate an end to slavery at a time when abolition was simply unimaginable, why can’t we do the same for racism? With that, The Emancipator was (re)born: an anti-slavery print newspaper resurrected as an antiracist digital magazine, connecting the anti-slavery movement to antiracist struggles today.

The Emancipator began as a partnership between Boston University and The Boston Globe, launching as a microsite of the Globe in the spring of 2022. After a successful incubation period, we parted ways and transitioned to an independent website.

We welcome you into The Emancipator community and hope you find our content and events to be inspiring, galvanizing, and a force for change. To Emancipation!

To experience the world of The Emancipator, check out the video below.