She longed for black people in America not to be forever refugees—confined by borders that they did not create and by a penal system that killed them before they died.

A profile of Toni Morrison.

On the life and career of Richard Pryor, as he neared the end of both.

“A paean 2 Prince.”

A profile of author Maggie Nelson.

“Missy (Misdemeanor) Elliott, the twenty-five-year-old hip-hop performer who is energetically redefining the boundaries of rap music, is a singer, a songwriter, an arranger, a producer, and a talent scout. Six months ago, few people outside the music industry had heard of her; six months from now, it will be necessary to pretend that you’ve known about Missy Elliott for years.”

I can’t ask anything. Once in a while if I’m forced into it I will conduct an interview, but it’s usually pro forma, just to establish my credentials as somebody who’s allowed to hang around for a while. It doesn’t matter to me what people say to me in the interview because I don’t trust it.

A profile of Vogue Creative Director André Leon Talley.

From our guide to haute couture genius at Slate.

On Huck Finn, the book Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, and the evolution of language and race in America.