The Long, Worthwhile Search for the Five Black Women of Grace Baptist Church

The New York Times –– October 2020

Wrote this 1400+ word essay about my investigative project, Seek And You Will Find: The Search for the Five Women of Grace Baptist Church. The essay went viral on Twitter (18.2k+ likes, comments and retweets), spotlighted by NYT National and NY verticals, and was chosen as “Editors’ Pick” on the homepage of The New York Times website.

The essay can be found here.

MOVING STILL

Columbia Journalism School – May 2020

“These are 16 true and forgotten stories about flight and freedom, grandeur and humility, failure and triumph… Half the proceeds from this book will be donated to Coalition for the Homeless, “the nation’s oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women and children” in the city of New York.”

Rachel wrote “Revolution Road”, a story about the life and death of Ferguson activist, Darren Seals. She also worked as the copyeditor.

Moving Still can be purchased here.

“LET HIM COME”: A GAY BLACK MINISTER AND HER LONG JOURNEY BACK TO GOD

The Brooklyn Ink – November 2019

This piece explores the delicate and difficult experience of being Black, gay and Christian using the life stories of a Black lesbian minister and her congregation.

This story can be found here.

Battleground USA

The Brooklyn Ink – October 2019

The story people were told about the Trump impeachment inquiry depended on where they lived and who told it. With other reporters from The Brooklyn Ink, Rachel collaborated on compiling and editing audio clips of news stories for a map of seven states with their different narratives. She used Adobe Audition to edit the clips and undertook the the role of editor.

This story can be found here.

5 Ways Black Fatherhood Can Either Nurture or Uproot Blossoming Black Girls

HuffPost – July 2017

Rachel had a group interview with friends who had one thing in common: they were estranged from their fathers and raised in a Black single mother household.

This story can be found here.

Resigned or Usurped: The Case of De Lille

Varsity Newspaper – August 2018

In the summer of 2018, Mayor of Cape Town, Patricia DeLille, was forced to resign following the claims that she had abused subordinates and participated in corrupt deals. However, it quickly became apparent that DeLille was a victim of racism and misogyny. Rachel was studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in 2018 when she became well versed in South African politics and pitched this piece to the newspaper.

The entire story is copied here.

Rev. Al Sharpton on His New Projects, New Lifestyle, Selfies, Kodak Black and Beef (?) with JAY-Z

HuffPost – July 2017

2017 was a busy year for Rev. Sharpton, who was constantly trending on social media with his fun gym selfies and shoutouts in a few of our favorite rappers’ songs. Rachel scored an interview with him at the National Action Network headquarters and got down to the nitty gritty.

This article can be found here.