Brandi Kellam

🏆Emmy award-winning journalist and film director | ✍🏾: @ProPublica @CBSNews @MSNBC @Essence | 🎓: @UNC @NewhouseSU 🐘: #DST1913 ✉️: [email protected]

Articles

State probe into Black communities’ displacement surges forward with infusion of funds

5 days ago | virginiamercury.com | Brandi Kellam

As more states reckon with the history of Black land loss, the Virginia General Assembly has been taking a rare, state-sanctioned approach: formally examining how the creation or expansion of public university campuses has displaced Black communities. A 19-member legislative commission met last month, its first convening since a mandatory hiatus during the 2025 legislative session was lifted. Enacted last year, the commission received an additional $200,000 in the state budget signed by Gov.
“Uprooted”: What a Black Community Lost When a Virginia University Grew

Jan 21, 2025 | propublica.org | Brandi Kellam |Christopher Tyree |Louis Hansen |Lisa Riordan Seville

Skip to main content Close Close Creative Commons Donate Email Add Email Facebook Instagram Mastodon Facebook Messenger Mobile Podcast Print ProPublica Search Secure WhatsApp YouTube “Uprooted”: What a Black Community Lost When a Virginia University Grew This short documentary reveals a Black community’s decadeslong battle to hold onto its land as officials in Newport News, Virginia, used eminent domain to establish and expand Christopher Newport University. Republish This Story for Free...
How Christopher Newport University Displaced Black Residents

Nov 19, 2024 | ewa.org | Brandi Kellam

In April 2021, I was searching for a local journalism story tied to racial inequality, inspired by my experience covering the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis the year before. With the support of Columbia University’s Lipman Fellowship, I turned my attention to communities near where I grew up in Virginia.
Virginia panels begin investigating Black communities displaced by universities, including CNU

Sep 20, 2024 | pilotonline.com | Brandi Kellam

A Newport News task force, one of two recently established groups in Virginia investigating the historic displacement of Black communities by the state’s public universities, is facing allegations that it has not been open about its operations. The six-member local government and university joint initiative, along with a separate 19-member statewide panel, is seeking potential redress for Black residents that were uprooted to make way for university expansion.
Virginia panels begin investigating Black communities displaced by universities

Sep 20, 2024 | dailyprogress.com | Brandi Kellam

A Newport News task force, one of two recently established groups in Virginia investigating the historic displacement of Black communities by the state’s public universities, is facing allegations that it has not been open about its operations. The six-member local government and university joint initiative, along with a separate nineteen-member statewide panel, is seeking potential redress for Black residents that were uprooted to make way for university expansion.
Virginia panels begin investigating Black communities displaced by universities

Sep 18, 2024 | virginiamercury.com | Brandi Kellam

A Newport News task force, one of two recently established groups in Virginia investigating the historic displacement of Black communities by the state’s public universities, is facing allegations that it has not been open about its operations. The six-member local government and university joint initiative, along with a separate nineteen-member statewide panel, is seeking potential redress for Black residents that were uprooted to make way for university expansion.
Brandi Kellam, Author at Virginia Mercury

Sep 18, 2024 | virginiamercury.com | Brandi Kellam

A Newport News task force, one of two recently established groups in Virginia investigating the historic displacement of Black communities by the state’s public universities, is facing allegations that it has not been open about its operations. The six-member local government and university joint initiative, along with a separate nineteen-member statewide panel, is seeking potential […]
The Family Photographs That Helped Us Investigate How a University Displaced a Black Community

Apr 22, 2024 | propublica.org | Logan Jaffe |Brandi Kellam |Louis Hansen |Christopher Tyree

In the second half of the 20th century, the establishment and expansion of public universities across Virginia uprooted Black families, hindering their efforts to accumulate wealth in the most American way — homeownership. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. James and Barbara Johnson flip through a book of their memories.
Uprooted — Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism

Apr 10, 2024 | vcij.org | Brandi Kellam |Louis Hansen

Sixty-plus years ago, the white leaders of Newport News, Virginia, seized the core of a thriving Black community to build a college. The school has been gobbling up the remaining houses ever since. Read the first story. This project was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the ProPublica. This story was co-published with ProPublica and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Virginia Lawmakers Approve Commission to Examine Universities’ Displacement of Black Communities

Mar 13, 2024 | propublica.org | Brandi Kellam |Louis Hansen |Gabriel Sandoval |Christopher Tyree

In the second half of the 20th century, the establishment and expansion of public universities across Virginia uprooted Black families, hindering their efforts to accumulate wealth in the most American way — homeownership. This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with the Virginia Center for Investigative Reporting at WHRO. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published.