Databases and resources to help provide context and numbers to your stories about race. Some are studies. Some are graphs and maps. Some are recent articles with good examples of data reporting.
Quick data sources
- U.S. Census: Easy stats (look at a place’s demographics through a quick search):
http://www.census.gov/easystats/ - U.S. Census: Quick facts about the United States’ demographics:
http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/00 - USDA Economic Research Services: Race in Rural America (A graphic and visual look at how race has transformed and is transforming in rural America):
http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/176091/page7.pdf - Business Insider: Median income by race (Table and graph that shows data, including recessions up to 2012):
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-median-income-in-the-us-by-race-2013-9 - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Unemployment by race (table is updated regularly):
http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpsee_e16.htm - U.S. Census: Business owners press release 2015:
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-209.html - FBI data on arrest rates for different offenses, broken down by race:
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/table-43 - The Sentencing Project: an advocacy group working to change sentencing laws. The group has a whole section on racial disparities in sentencings:
- http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=122
- Also has a huge database of resources on race and justice:
http://www.sentencingproject.org/clearinghouse/
- United Nations Development Programme Education Index:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/education-index - OECD’s PISA test score results from 2012:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results.htm - New York Magazine: Biased Policies Push Black Girls Out of School:
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/03/pushout-monique-morris-black-girls-school-discipline.html# - Education Week: Media Usage Highest Among Poor, Minority Youth:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2015/11/media_usage_highest_among_poor.html - The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports’ Racial and Gender Report Cards:
http://www.tidesport.org/reports.html - Resource: Unnatural Causes, “a seven-part documentary series exploring racial and socioeconomic inequalities in health.”
http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/
Maps, charts and other data
- New York Times: Mapping segregation: Graphics that show major metropolitan cities and how they are spatially located.):
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/08/us/census-race-map.html?_r=0 - Racial segregation: Mapping Decline: A collection of maps that detail St. Louis’ racial segregation over time, compiled by Colin Gordon at the University of Iowa. Maps are divided up by race and property, white flight, municipal zoning and urban renewal programs (which led to the displacement of black people in cities.:
http://mappingdecline.lib.uiowa.edu/ - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Main page (good site for data by racial groups and class can be found. There are even regional-specific websites):
http://www.bls.gov/home.htm - Pew Research Center has data on national incarceration rates by race:
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/08/22/chapter-3-demographic-economic-data-by-race/#incarceration - National Organization of Women’s Issue Advisory on vote suppression:
http://now.org/resource/voter-suppression-targets-women-students-and-people-of-color-issue-advisory-part-two/ - Racial Justice Project report on food deserts and structural racism:
http://www.racialjusticeproject.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2012/06/NYLS-Food-Deserts-Report.pdf - The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston timeline of housing segregation policies:
http://www.bostonfairhousing.org/timeline/1934-1968-FHA-Redlining.html
Academic studies and book chapters
- Bureau of Justice statistics and studies on the races of victims:
http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=922 - Center on Crime, Race and Justice at the CUNY John Jay College of Criminal has a project, “Police and Community,” that compiles research and context on policing practices, like stop and frisk, use of force and body cameras:
http://policeandcommunity.org/index.html - The National Center for State Courts keeps a list of studies focusing on racial bias at the state court level and efforts to increase racial/ethnic diversity on the bench and in juries:
http://www.ncsc.org/Topics/Access-and-Fairness/Gender-and-Racial-Fairness/Resource-Guide.aspx - Brandeis University: Study on the growing gap between black and white Americans:
http://iasp.brandeis.edu/pdfs/Author/shapiro-thomas-m/racialwealthgapbrief.pdf - University of Washington School of Law has a guide to resources and studies on race and criminal justice:
https://lib.law.washington.edu/content/guides/racecrim - American Civil Liberties Union has a section of its website dedicated to race and criminal justice. Has a lot of resources on racial profiling:
https://href.li/?https://www.aclu.org/report/persistence-racial-and-ethnic-profiling-united-states
https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice - Race and Quarterback Survival in the National Football League, Study from the Journal of Sports Economics:
http://jse.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/10/20/1527002515609659.abstract - The Movies, Race and Ethnicity: A study from the University of California-Berkley:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/imagesafam.html#90 - “The Sources of the Black Athlete’s Superiority,” by Harry Edwards, sports sociologist:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_4m0FbGbxcC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA5&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false - A Study by Cynthia Frisby, University of Missouri associate professor, on athlete stereotyping:
http://www.voanews.com/content/athlete-stereotyping-5jun15/2808997.html - “Black male student-athletes and racial inequities in Division I College Sports,” a study from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Education Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education:
https://www.gse.upenn.edu/equity/sites/gse.upenn.edu.equity/files/publications/Harper_Williams_and_Blackman_%282013%29.pdf - Study: The Commonwealth Fund’s “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U.S. Health Care: A Chartbook”:
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/mead_racialethnicdisparities_chartbook_1111.pdf - Study: “Understanding African Americans’ Views of the Trustworthiness of Physicians”:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1924632/pdf/jgi0021-0642.pdf - Study: American Journal of Public Health’s “Wastewater Disposal Wells, Fracking, and Environmental Injustice in Southern Texas”:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26794166 - Study: The Center for Disease Control’s “How Did Cause of Death Contribute to Racial Differences in Life Expectancy in the United States in 2010?”:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db125.pdf - Study: “When Race Matters: Disagreement in Pain Perception between Patients and their Physicians in Primary Care”:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2576060/pdf/jnma00204-0066.pdf - From the University of Southern California: “Race/Ethnicity in 600 Popular Films: Examining On Screen Portrayals and Behind the Camera Diversity”:
http://annenberg.usc.edu/sitecore/shell/Applications/Content%20Manager/~/media/MDSCI/Racial%20Inequality%20in%20Film%202007-2013%20Final.ashx?db=master&la=en&vs=1&ts=20140731T1347226383 - 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report:
http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2-25-15.pdf - “2013 Theatrical Market Statistics”:
http://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/MPAA-Theatrical-Market-Statistics-2013_032514-v2.pdf
News articles
- Alabama: The Equal Justice Initiative has resources on mass incarceration, the death penalty and children in prison:
http://www.eji.org - New York Times: The Real Problem With America’s Inner Cities:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/opinion/sunday/the-real-problem-with-americas-inner-cities.html?_r=0 - ProPublica: Segregation Now:
https://www.propublica.org/article/segregation-now-full-text - ProPublica: School Segregation, the Continuing Tragedy of Ferguson:
https://www.propublica.org/article/ferguson-school-segregation - The Atlantic: The Ghost of Segregation Lingers on in Memphis Classrooms:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/in-memphis-classrooms-the-ghost-of-segregation-lingers-on/252992/ - From the New York Times: “A Hip-Hop moment, but is it authentic?”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/arts/music/macklemores-thrift-shop-and-baauers-harlem-shake.html?_r=1 - “Who’s boosting box office numbers? Report says Latinos”:
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/04/04/297285349/whos-boosting-box-office-numbers-report-says-latinos - From the Economist: “How racially skewed are the Oscars?”:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/01/film-and-race - Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s Training for Political Redistricting:
http://latinojustice.org/redistricting/ny/Voting_Dilution_Techniques_Mike_Sayer.pdf - People for the American Way Foundation’s report on voter suppression:
http://www.pfaw.org/media-center/publications/new-face-jim-crow-voter-suppression-america
Journalism organizations
- National Association of Hispanic Journalists (main page):
http://nahj.org/ - National Association of Black Journalists (main page):
http://www.nabj.org/ - Asian American Journalists Association (main page):
http://www.aaja.org/ - Native American Journalists Association (main page):
http://www.naja.com/ - Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (main page):
http://en.arij.net/ - Association of Health Care Journalists, Social Determinants/Disparities page:
http://healthjournalism.org/socialdeterminants