A note on the capitalization of “Black,” “White” and “Brown” in investigative reports and future blog writing.
Prior to starting my regular series of book reviews, I wanted to take the time to explain my stylistic choice around the capitalization of “Black,” “White” and “Brown,” that I will employ throughout this blog (and in my investigative reports), in reference to race.
While this may seem like a minor stylistic issue, the topic has garnered significant attention throughout the publishing and journalistic world. This debate really took off in 2020, when the country was experiencing a wave of social and racial justice movements. Various journalistic institutions, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Atlantic all weighed in or reported on the debate, proclaiming different styles and stances, and citing different reasons behind these decisions. While there is a general consensus as to the capitalization of “Black,” there is greater disagreement as to the capitalization of “White.”
Part of my decision relates to the impartiality of workplace and school investigations, and the aim for my investigative reports to reflect that impartiality. As an impartial workplace and school investigator, I’m often tasked with investigating issues involving race and alleged racial discrimination. In these investigations, the people I interview will often refer to themselves or others as “Black,” “White” or “Brown” to describe their race. In capitalizing all three as proper adjectives, my intention is to emphasize my neutrality as an investigator, employing uniform stylistic devices throughout.
Another part of my decision is inspired by the introduction of South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry, which won the National Book Award for non-fiction in 2022. At the start of her book, Perry writes:
I have long thought that Black, in reference to people, should be capitalized. Finally, the style guides agree with me. But I also capitalize White in this book. That is less common. I do so because the categories, Black and White, were made together. They are strangely symbiotic, opposing yet intimate. Historically, White was a term reserved for those who could possibly be full citizens and members of the country. Black was for the “ultimate others” held down or at the margins. I also capitalize Indigenous, a people of many nations, named “Indian” by European error, who were colonized, expelled, robbed, and shuttered from their native lands. Generations have expanded and challenged the meanings of race that were created by colonialism. Nevertheless, in this country’s history, Black and White have never been mere adjectives, and Indigenous, a global term, is specific in this nation. These are identity categories that were made by law, custom, policies, protest, economic relations, and perhaps most potently, culture. Politeness, grammar rules, and political pieties aside, this strikes me as a simple truth that ought to be acknowledged. I didn’t make the rules. I am trying to tell them to you.
Here, Perry distinguishes between an adjective, that provides a general description or characterization, and a proper adjective (derived from a proper noun), that refers to a specific thing, such as a specific identity category: “made by law, custom, policies, protest, economic relations, and perhaps most potently, culture.” In other words, adjectives relating to one’s race are more akin to adjectives relating to their nationality (i.e., American, European, African, etc.) rather than adjectives relating to their general characteristics (i.e., tall, short, blonde, etc.).
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, which I read for the first time last year, is a brilliant work of creative non-fiction, weaving personal accounts and reflections, sociological data, scholarly essay-writing, and investigative journalism together with magnificent, meditative prose.
Perry is a Professor of Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her latest work Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People was recently released in January 2025. I will write on her works in greater depth in future blog posts.
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