The Black-White Wealth Gap Impacts Everything. Black History Month

The Black-white wealth gap impacts everything 

Author, Ex-Wall Street Journal. Black History Month

Media executive and journalist Ebony Reed presents data and context on the Black-white wealth gap to help us understand why today so many Black families only have 15 cents for every dollar in wealth white families hold and its impact. 

She is the Chief Strategy Officer at The Marshall Project, a national nonprofit focused on reporting about the criminal justice system. At the Yale School of Management, Ebony codesigned and co-teaches an MBA class with fellow journalist and professor, Louise Story about wealth and income gaps across race and gender. They are also coauthors of a book (HarperCollins, 2024) about the Black-white wealth gap, which is based on more than 300 interviews, their own commissioned Harris Poll and a deep dive on seven Black families – three prominent and four most people may not know. 

Ebony began her career as a reporter at The Plain Dealer, covering Cleveland public schools, documenting public education’s inequities. At The Detroit News, she managed the local coverage of the 2008 financial crisis that crushed many families and had a lasting impact on Black families. At the Associated Press, Ebony was the deputy chief over the 55-person New England bureau and she was based in Boston before moving into a national revenue-focused role. At The Wall Street Journal, Ebony focused on audience and community building. 

She’s a proud Missouri School of Journalism graduate and former faculty member. She’s also a board member of United WE and resides in Kansas City, Missouri.