Black People

February 11, 2022

Love Isn’t a Zero-Sum Game

I thought the open relationship was the problem. But it was me. I’ve always been wary of sports, competition and falling in love. So growing up, […]
February 11, 2022

Accepting Applications for a Black Boyfriend

After a lifetime of dating white men, I hoped a new romance could offer a chance at love, and at embracing my own Blackness. “I am […]
February 11, 2022

Beyond Cool, She Was Fly. Her Confidence Gave Me Wings.

I had no example of love, not for girls that looked like me. Until my cousin Tiffany. I’ve spent my whole life looking for similarities between […]
February 11, 2022

What Is Black Love Today?

In a special collaboration between Modern Love and Black History, Continued, we gathered stories that illuminate how Black people live, and love, in this moment. When […]
February 11, 2022

Our Bond Was Thicker Than Blood

No matter how hard I prayed, my father never appeared. But my godfather always did. I was trying to think about the first time I met […]
February 11, 2022

She Wouldn’t Break Her Heart to Mend Mine

She was a healer, but was I ready to be fixed? A few days before my last day at my job administering a college scholarship program, […]
February 11, 2022

Two Boys on Bicycles, Falling in Love

He gave me a ring. He also punched me in the eye. I learned a lot that summer about how “nice-nasty” the world can be. Two […]
February 11, 2022

Was It Me? Or My Teeth?

In America, a smile is like a résumé. I was afraid mine wasn’t closing the deal. I met her the way it felt like most people […]
December 29, 2021

A Story of Love and Obsession

The Harlem house had been empty for eight years when in 2010 James Fenton, the British poet, and Darryl Pinckney, the African American cultural critic and […]
December 3, 2021

Going Deep Into Oyster Country

From coastal Virginia to New York and New Orleans, a writer delves into the history and lore surrounding the shellfish, with a focus on the role […]