It’s tradition to sing “Happy Birthday” when celebrating a friend or family member’s entrance into the world. But for many black people, the familiar birthday song alone just won’t do.

On a small U.S. island there is a young man named Kurt Marsh Jr. He lives with his extended family on land that has been in his family for countless generations. Before that his family worked the ...

George Houston was pressed to sell his land in 1968. Like many Black Americans, it cost him a chance to build generational wealth for his children.