ProPublica

As a grad student at the College of Charleston, Lauren Davila found an ad for the auction of 600 enslaved people — the largest known slave auction in the U.S.

The discovery prompted a small group to spearhead the creation of a historical marker in downtown Charleston.

Here's our 2023 story revealing Davila's discovery and unearthing the identity of the family responsible for the sale: https://propub.li/4gsNTJA

In 2023, ProPublica reporter Jennifer Berry Hawes published a story about some of the oldest known photographs of enslaved people in this country’s history. The photographs, commissioned by a Harvard scientist in 1850, were made to prove a racist belief that Black people were inferior to white people.

For generations, Harvard held onto those photographs — until one woman, Tamara Lanier, sued Harvard in 2019 and claimed that some of those enslaved people were her ancestors. She demanded Harvard give up those photographs, and she set out to find a rightful steward for them.

Under a 2025 settlement announced by the civil rights attorney Ben Crump’s firm, we learned Harvard decided to relinquish the images and move them to the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, the state where the images were taken and where the people they depict lived — and probably died.

Read our original investigation (published 2023): https://propub.li/3SPHKgM

After ProPublica contacted Dr. Joseph Mercola for an article on babies dying after parents turned down vitamin K shots, he publicly reversed his long-held stance that the shots weren't needed. “The data is clear: vitamin K saves lives,” he wrote.

Read the full story: https://propub.li/3SOPOOM

If you’ve used or considered using school voucher programs, ProPublica wants to hear about your experience. How have you navigated your options? Are you satisfied with the process, or have you encountered barriers?

Share your story:

Help ProPublica Report on Education ProPublica needs your help to track how the upheaval of public education is affecting schools and colleges in your community. Take a few minutes to join our source network and help guide our coverage.

Each time reporter David Armstrong refilled his cancer drug prescription, he knew the bottle cost his health insurer the equivalent of a new car — even though each pill cost only about 25 cents to make. But how did this happen?

Listen to his investigation on “Paper Trail”: https://propub.li/4aV0Jwy

-----
🎧 Follow on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/paper-trail/id1896058335

🎧 Follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zdWwklZwPBY7YCX5GIFRH

New: New records obtained by ProPublica detail at least a dozen SpaceX investors with addresses in mainland China, Hong Kong or Russia who acquired stakes in SpaceX years ago through a middleman firm in the U.S. called Tomales Bay Capital. https://propub.li/4xBG1vE

Before SpaceX IPO, Investors in China Secretly Acquired Stakes One previously unreported SpaceX investor has ties to Chinese military contractors. The information was revealed only after ProPublica went to court to obtain it.

Mark McAfee’s farm is the largest producer of unpasteurized milk in the country. He has escaped serious sanctions despite two decades of skirmishes with the U.S. government, which has repeatedly accused him of breaking laws.

Read our full investigation: https://propub.li/4vbxI89

The Trump administration has said immigration officers don’t target children with tear gas or pepper spray, but we found many children — in their homes, cars or walking to school — harmed by these chemicals, which pose a particular threat to kids.

Read more: https://propub.li/4oAqGaw

New: Republican backers of Trump’s signature domestic policy bill repeatedly claimed that revisions to the food benefits program wouldn’t affect the most vulnerable. But reports from a dozen states show children are losing access. https://propub.li/4xE2hVK

More Than 770,000 Children Are No Longer Receiving SNAP Benefits After Trump Changes Federal Food Program Republican backers of Trump's signature domestic policy bill repeatedly claimed that revisions to the food benefits program wouldn't affect the most vulnerable. But reports from a dozen states show children are losing access.

New: Across Africa, the State Department has demanded access to health data for millions of people as a condition of giving countries billions of dollars in aid needed to address HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other illnesses. https://propub.li/4vOWuL3

“Digital Colonialism”: U.S. Demands to Access Africans' Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns The United States is requiring access to health data as part of lifesaving aid deals with African countries. The U.S. says the data will be aggregated and anonymized, but privacy experts fear the information could be misused or exploited.