About Us

ColorLines has been building a home for journalism in service to racial justice since 1998. Our multiracial team of writers, producers and photographers cover stories from the perspective of community, rather than through the lens of power brokers. We consider racism a structural problem that demands structural, rather than solely person solutions. Like our publisher, the Applied Research Center, we're interested in systems, and that perspective informs our journalism.

After 12 years as a print magazine, ColorLines has relaunched as an online community. By exploiting the exciting opportunities of digital media, we've become a more dynamic, fast-moving and hard-hitting news source than was ever before possible. We're covering daily news as it unfolds, synthesizing complicated stories with multimedia features and breaking open new conversations with investigative reporting.

We cover a wide range of stories, both those in which the stakes are uniquely important to particular communities of color and those that impact racial justice broadly. We work to bring context to the big issues of the day and to document stories that mainstream media overlook. And we help our community members take action based on the stories we're covering.

ColorLines Direct, our weekly email newsletter, digests our coverage and the broader work of the Applied Research Center staff. Sign up to receive ColorLines Direct every Thursday. You can also follow us on our Facebook page and on Twitter @ColorLines.

Recent ColorLines Awards and Honors


Outstanding Magazine Article, GLAAD nomination, 2009
Kai's Wright's ColorLines story nominated for NABJ award 2008
Watchdog award winner, Chicago Headline Club 2008
General Excellence award winner, Utne Magazine of 2007
Best Cultural and Social Coverage, Utne Magazine, 2005

Outstanding Magazine Article, GLAAD nomination, 2005

Best Political Magazine, East Bay Express, 2004

Best Investigative/In-Depth Article, New America Media, 2004