...building a legal infrastructure that is responsive, action-oriented, and collaborative in its support of organizers on the ground and Black folks everywhere.
ISSUE AREAS + IMPACT
At L4BL, we believe that our collective freedoms are tied together, and that the beloved multiracial democratic community will be impossible to build without Black liberation. We also know that focusing on the most impacted will be the key to freeing us all. In a country built on the exploitation and oppression of Black people, most law and policy issues affect Black people, even when the connection is not obvious.
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Collaborative legal organizing and representation in rapid response moments
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Resource creation, like our Freedom to Thrive: Invest/Divest Report, our Reparations Now Toolkit, our Until Freedom Comes: Bail Out Toolkit, our Transformational Bail Curriculum
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Technical assistance for organizers
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Collective development of collaborative spaces such as the Black Freedom Project, National Bail Out, and the People’s Coalition for Safety and Freedom
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Law and policy research for local movement organizations throughout the country
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Connection for local movement to law school clinics for ongoing relationship building and support
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Legal fellowship and internship programs
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National, regional, and local coalition support
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Political Education and skill-based webinars
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Strategic convenings like our Divest/Invest Freedom Labs, Lawyering for Liberation Conference, and Movement Lawyering Summit
OUR PAST EFFORTS
What is the people’s liberatory vision for the future?
How can we build people power to support the vision?
How does this issue impact Black people and their liberation?
How can we fortify the efforts of Black organizers to bring the vision to life?
Over the past decade, Law for Black Lives has worked to transform the legal field, fortify Black organizing, and disrupt the status quo, all in the name of building people power for the Black liberation movement and achieving transformative social change.
WHY THIS MATTERS
1,322,649
There are approximately active lawyers licensed to practice in the United States
About 5% of all U.S. lawyers identify as Black/African American.
Compare this to Black people’s share of the U.S. population (~13.7%)
THE PENAL SYSTEM
Black people are overrepresented in the incarcerated population, accounting for roughly 33% of sentenced state/federal prisoners, despite being a smaller share of the U.S. population.
40.66% of death row population are Black people as of October 2025
Source: Death Penalty Information Center
ECONOMICS
Black unemployment is 7.6%, while the overall US unemployment rate, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is 4.3% as of 2026
Source: Economic Policy Institute
In 2023, 1 in 4 Black people, and 27% of Black children, in the United States experienced food insecurity. According to the USDA, over 9 million Black people could not access enough food to lead a healthy, active life.
Source: Feeding America
Black families are far more likely to experience poverty. In 2024, the United States had an overall poverty rate of 10.6%, whilek community the poverty rate was 18.4%.
Source: Feeding America
HEALTH
Black maternal mortality: As of 2023, Black people are more than three times as likely as White people to experience a pregnancy-related death (49.4 vs. 14.9 per 100,000 live births) in 2023.
Source: Per Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
HIV diagnoses: Per Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), Black people account for a much larger share of HIV diagnoses (39%), people living with HIV (40%), and deaths among people with HIV (43%) than any other racial/ethnic group in the U.S.
Source: Per Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF)
POLITICS
1 Black Governor (Wes Moore, MD- D) out of all 50 states.
Among the 20 largest cities in the US, 5 are led by Black mayors (LA, Chicago, Philadephia, Dallas, & Charlotte). 4/5 of these mayors are Democrats
