EditorialKaleigh Mull vaults while being spotted by Coach Morgan Byrd during the Brown Girls Do Gymnastics conference, hosted by Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., July 23, 2022. (Taylor Baucom/The New York Times)
EditorialAlice Gerrard with "Shady Grove (Alice Gerrard)," a 2009 portrait by Art Rosenbaum, at her home in Durham, N.C., Oct. 5, 2022. (Alycee Byrd/The New York Times)
EditorialAljanal Carroll, who earned a doctoral degree from Walden University, an online, for-profit school, after three years and tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected tuition costs, in Charlotte, N.C., Jan. 23, 2022. (Alycee Byrd/The New York Times)
EditorialLaTasha Barnes, center, with cast members from ?Continuum,? Duane Lee Holland Jr., left, and Michele Byrd-McPhee in Manhattan?s East Village, May 2, 2021. (Nathan Bajar/The New York Times)
EditorialMarvin McAllister, who wrote a history of the William Brown’s African and American Theater, in Pineville, N.C. on Sept. 9, 2021. (Alycee Byrd/The New York Times)
EditorialWhen Mark Wray, 25, lost his job last year working concessions at a movie theater, he got training for higher-paying work. (Alycee Byrd/The New York Times)
EditorialLaTasha Barnes, center, with cast members from “Continuum,” Duane Lee Holland Jr., left, and Michele Byrd-McPhee in Manhattan’s East Village, May 2, 2021. (Nathan Bajar/The New York Times)
EditorialAnimatronics triggered by motion sensor welcome customers to Morris Costumes in Charlotte, N.C., Oct. 27, 2020. (Alycee Byrd/The New York Times)