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It took years of work behind the scenes, both with the Associated Press and despite sacred style rules, to get the B capitalized in Black. Here are some of the people who made it happen.
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/many-newsrooms-are-now-capitalizing-the-b-in-black-here-are-some-of-the-people-who-made-that-happen/
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/many-newsrooms-are-now-capitalizing-the-b-in-black-here-are-some-of-the-people-who-made-that-happen/
> @bobbibooker has always capitalized Black, and she insisted on it in publications she wrote for. In 1999, she approached PABJ about it, and then again every year. Here's the moment she found out AP adopted the change.
In 2003, @alyco wrote about capital B Black for Poynter, and he predicted the trouble with the process at the time
In 2014, @LoriTharps made the case for capital B Black in The New York Times. It wasn't, she wrote, a new argument. W.E.B. Du Bois fought successfully for a capital letter in the 1920s. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/the-case-for-black-with-a-capital-b.html
In 2015, @meredithdclark made the case for capital B Black in a piece for Poynter (which I edited.) https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2015/making-the-case-for-black-with-a-capital-b-again/
We adopted the change and got support for it. We continued using it for a few years. And then, it seems like it just stopped. I personally stopped making the case. Like a lot of places, we had an opportunity five years ago. We wasted it.
When @sarah4nabj became @NABJ's president, she took on another style matter - boy. She didn't expect the AP to be receptive, but they were and started working with her and colleagues. In 2019, she took on capital B Black.
The @APStylebook shared via email what it's been like internally over the last few years, where it heard for and against capital B Black and grappled (is still grappling) with white. From @jdaniszewski:
Also important, lots of places didn't wait until this June to make the change. When she started at @NYAmNews 15 years ago, @NayabaA insisted on it.
> @BrookingsInst made the change in September of 2019: https://www.brookings.edu/research/brookingscapitalizesblack/
> @dailyorange, an independent student pub, made the change in January. http://dailyorange.com/2020/01/do-adjusts-style-guide/
For me, two others stories show how change can also happen: By listening...
> @CPLHouse capitalized Black as her own form of protest when writing for @seattletimes, and it always got lower-cased. Until Laura Gordon noticed while editing and asked about it. Later, Crystal shared a piece by @IamGMJohnson. https://www.mic.com/p/yes-black-is-capitalized-when-were-talking-about-race-19208252
> @CPLHouse, Lauren, @naomiishisaka & @ViannaDavila worked with the Times' diversity and inclusion task force and made the case to the bosses. In December of last year, the Seattle Times made the change https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/capital-b-black-becomes-standard-usage-at-the-seattle-times/
Meanwhile in Boston, @BostonNAACP1911's president, @attorneytanisha, made the case to @GlobeMcGrory and @BostonGlobe. It announced the change in January.
Ok so what about white? You can read this piece to see how different institutions are approaching it.
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/many-newsrooms-are-now-capitalizing-the-b-in-black-here-are-some-of-the-people-who-made-that-happen/
But also, hear @LoriTharps:
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2020/many-newsrooms-are-now-capitalizing-the-b-in-black-here-are-some-of-the-people-who-made-that-happen/
But also, hear @LoriTharps:
Most of the people I talked to last week for this story were overjoyed that they could now write Black. They were also frustrated it took so long. @skyphoto: "It's literally low-hanging fruit."
Capital B Black doesn't fix ALL the many problems that exist in American newsrooms and in their coverage. For Marlon A. Walker, it's a sign that newsrooms are open to dealing with the more complicated things.
