By any measure, economic mobility is about more than money.

The ability to buy a home, start a business, attend college, access healthcare, vote, and advocate for one’s interests all shape whether families can build wealth and pass opportunity to future generations.

That reality is why many economists and civil rights scholars argue that the policies emerging from President Donald Trump’s second administration have major implications for Black economic mobility.

Some supporters contend that Trump’s emphasis on deregulation, lower taxes, and merit-based policies could create broader economic growth. Critics argue that cuts to diversity initiatives, civil-rights protections, and social programs disproportionately harm Black communities that already face historic barriers to wealth accumulation.

The truth may ultimately be found somewhere between those competing narratives.

Economic mobility: Income and more

According to Federal Reserve data, the median wealth of Black families remains a fraction of that of white families. Black homeownership rates also continue to trail national averages, while Black entrepreneurs remain more likely to be denied financing and less likely to receive venture capital investment.

“Where you start in America still matters too much,” noted economist William Darity Jr., whose research has focused extensively on racial wealth disparities.

As corporations scaled back Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives and government agencies faced sweeping cuts, Black women were among the hardest hit. Between spring and late 2025, more than 300,000 Black women either lost jobs, left the workforce, or were pushed out of employment, according to labor data and economic reports tracking the crisis.

Unemployment among Black women climbed from 5.4% to as high as 7.3% by the end of the year — one of the steepest increases of any demographic group. These numbers have an outsized impact on Black communities because nearly 80% of Black mothers in America are primary, sole, or co-breadwinners for their families, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

And what has gone almost unnoticed is that between November 2025 and February 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 567,000 Black men lost their jobs across all sectors.

As a result, policy changes affecting employment, housing, education, healthcare, business development, and voting rights can have significant economic consequences.

Texas Southern University (TSU) Professor Michael O. Adams argues that the current U.S. “war economy” isn’t helping matters.

“We need more reinvestment into domestic kinds of issues,” said Adams. “I’m looking at healthcare, education, and economic development… the war economy takes away from those efforts.”

According to Fortune Magazine, the engagement—dubbed Operation Epic Fury—is producing a “war economy” that is costing U.S. taxpayers over $1 billion a day.

Housing: The foundation of wealth

Homeownership remains the primary source of wealth for most American families.

One area of concern among housing advocates is the Trump administration’s opposition to race-conscious housing and reparative programs. The administration recently challenged a housing-reparations initiative in Evanston, Illinois, arguing that race-based housing assistance violates civil-rights laws. Supporters of the program say such initiatives are designed to address generations of housing discrimination.

Critics worry that similar challenges could limit future efforts to narrow the racial homeownership gap.

At the same time, supporters of the administration argue that reducing regulations and increasing housing supply could help all buyers regardless of race.

Whether those broader market benefits outweigh the loss of targeted programs remains a subject of debate among housing economists.

Black businesses face new questions

Black-owned businesses generated record growth following the pandemic, yet many still rely heavily on government contracts, supplier-diversity programs, and technical-assistance initiatives.

One of Trump’s most consequential actions has been a series of executive orders that have ended or restricted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) requirements in federal agencies and federal contracting. The administration argues these measures restore “merit-based opportunity” and equal treatment under the law.

However, many Black business advocates see potential economic risks.

The administration revoked Executive Order 11246, a civil rights-era policy that required federal contractors to take affirmative action to ensure equal opportunity.

Reuters reported that minority contractors have already expressed concerns that changes to disadvantaged-business programs could reduce opportunities for Black-owned firms competing for infrastructure and government projects. Some contractors reported revenue losses, delays, and layoffs connected to certification changes.

For cities like Houston, where minority-owned firms play a major role in public contracting, the long-term effects could be substantial.

And with so many taxpayer dollars still directed towards the war in Iran, Houston’s roughly 200,000 Black businesses are on the front lines when it comes to being negatively impacted. Higher freight and energy costs, for instance, are wreaking havoc on already thin margins.

“I’m not sure people realize the tight margins small businesses operate within,” said Judson Robinson, president and CEO of the Houston Area Urban League. “When the price of oil needlessly skyrockets, the burden on Black people increases exponentially… it erases profit margins and can put you out of business.”

Education and workforce development

Higher education remains one of the strongest predictors of lifetime earnings.

The Trump administration has highlighted additional investments in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as evidence of its commitment to expanding opportunity. The White House has promoted increased support for HBCUs and workforce development initiatives as part of its Black History Month agenda.

However, in September of last year, the Department of Education (ED) announced it would pull the plug on approximately $350 million in discretionary funds for institutions that enroll a high percentage of minority students, including HBCUs

Additionally, many education advocates argue that the broader anti-DEI campaign may reduce programs designed to recruit, retain, and support underrepresented students on college campuses.

The administration contends such programs often violate principles of equal treatment. Opponents argue they address documented disparities in access and outcomes.

Healthcare and economic security

Economic mobility is difficult without good health.

Healthcare cuts or reductions in public benefits often affect Black households disproportionately because Black Americans are more likely to rely on Medicaid and other public-health programs.

Policy analysts warn that reductions in healthcare access can produce long-term economic consequences, including higher medical debt, lower workforce participation, and reduced family wealth.

For many families, healthcare costs can be the difference between building savings and falling deeper into financial insecurity.

Voting rights and political power

Economic mobility is also connected to political power.

Voting determines who controls budgets, education funding, housing policy, infrastructure spending, and economic-development initiatives.

Civil-rights advocates have expressed concern that efforts to weaken federal oversight of voting protections could reduce political influence in Black communities. While supporters argue that election-integrity measures strengthen confidence in elections, critics contend that some policies not only create additional barriers to participation but also actively create a reality of voter suppression.

The economic implications are significant because communities with less political representation often have less influence over public investment decisions.

Bottom line

For Black America, economic mobility has never depended solely on individual effort. It has also depended on public policy. Federal and state policies moving forward may determine whether Black families can narrow longstanding wealth gaps—or whether those gaps become even harder to close.

Based on reporting by Houston Defender.

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By Jackie Hampton and Wiley Henry

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Although she received more than 500 local, state, and national honors for her extraordinary contributions to publishing, journalism, civil rights, education, and for her support of economic empowerment within Nashville’s African American business community, Rosetta (Irvin) Miller-Perry sought only to help others succeed in life.

Miller-Perry was smart, relentless and unwavering in her pursuit of excellence while reaching the pinnacle of success. She was a preeminent newspaper publisher, entrepreneur, business owner, advocate, and a warrior for justice. On Friday, June 26, she rested from her labor. She was 91.

Though hearts are heavy, Miller-Perry’s legacy endures. What she accomplished in her lifetime is etched into the annals of history.

Born in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 1934, to her parents Anderson Irvin and Mary Hall Irvin, Miller-Perry understood that her life would be dedicated to something greater than herself. The Spirit moved her to reach for the brass ring in life and to help aspirants along the way.

Her journey began in the classrooms of McKinley Elementary School, Coraopolis Junior High School, and Coraopolis Senior High School, where she graduated in 1952. She would later matriculate at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Herzl Community College in Chicago.

In 1955, Miller-Perry enlisted in the U.S. Navy. But she did not stop there. She went on to work at the Pentagon and for the Adjutant General’s Office in Germany.

In 1956, she graduated from the University of Memphis with a B.S. in chemistry, and in 1957 from the John A. Gumpton School of Mortuary Science with her D.M.S. In 1958, she attended Tennessee State University and Meharry Medical College for nurse training while working at Southern Funeral Home in Nashville.

While Miller-Perry was pursuing an education, the Civil Rights Movement was teetering on the edge of uncertainty. The Klan was on a warpath across the South and hellbent on maintaining the status quo. Shejoined the fight for justice in the fury that divided the nation, working in the trenches in Nashville alongside giants like Z. Alexander Looby, Reverend Kelly Miller Smith, Curley McGruder, and countless others who risked everything in their pursuit of justice.

Miller-Perry moved to Memphis and worked closely with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., serving first as a clerk typist for the U.S. Civil Rights Commission in 1960. She was a field representative and a trusted observer monitoring Civil Rights activities during the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike in 1968.

While the struggle for freedom was ongoing, Miller-Perry remained vigilant. The fight in her never waned. In 1975, she took a job as director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for the Nashville area and challenged an unjust system that discriminated against African Americans and other marginalized communities.

After retiring from government service, the entrepreneurial spirit in Miller-Perry tugged at her, and she answered the call. In 1990, using her own money, she and her husband, Dr. L.O.P. Perry, who was recognized as the first black gastroenterologist in Nashville, founded and launched Contempora, a Tennessee-focused African American magazine.

In 1991, Miller-Perry recognized a void in positive media coverage of the African American community, and The Tennessee Tribune was born. Miller-Perry poured all her resources into this new weekly newspaper to ensure that African Americans’ voices would no longer be silenced by neglect from mainstream media.

She refused to allow others to define the narrative. For more than 35 years, Miller-Perry built a media empire without shrinking from her vision and provided a vehicle for others to tell their stories. She also gave young journalists opportunities to work under her tutelage when the doors at white newspapers were seldom open for upstarts.

As a member of The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the largest and most influential Black-owned media resource in America, Miller-Perry served several terms on the Board of Directors of the association and the NNPA Fund.

NNPA President/CEO Dr. Ben Chavis stated, “The living legacy of Rosetta Miller-Perry is vital to the future sustainability and progress of the Black Press of America. As Queen Mother of the Black Press, Rosetta Perry exemplified the Black Press’s genius and conscious commitment to freedom, justice, and equality, as NNPA. We pledge to keep Rosetta’s memory alive as we approach the 200th Anniversary of the Black Press in 2027.”

For her work in media and community service, Miller-Perry received the NNPA Lifetime Achievement Award on January 25, 2019, during the NNPA Mid-Winter training conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.It was at that gathering that she earned the title of “Queen Mother of the Black Press.” Bobby Henry, a former chair of NNPA, recalls roasting her during this event. “I teased her about being a mortician and how she could do away with people who did not treat her right and nobody would ever know,” Henry said. “She smiled and gave me a look that said it was possible.”

“She had a good sense of humor, but along with all her business savvy, she was a loving, private woman. She had the genuine sweetness of your favorite aunt and the wisdom and sage of your gangster uncle. She was just a well-rounded person full of love and wisdom,” Henry stated.

Never one to rest on her laurels, Miller-Perry established the Greater Nashville Black Chamber of Commerce in 1998 and that same year created the Anthony J. Cebrun Journalism Center in partnership with Dell Computers to prepare young people for careers in journalism.

Miller-Perry also founded the Nashville chapter of the Coalition of 100 Black Women, Les Gemmes, Inc., Nashville Chapter, and the National Council of Negro Women. She was also instrumental in building the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., meeting facility in Nashville and in countless initiatives dedicated to service and empowerment.

Even in her later years, Miller-Perry continued to climb the proverbial ladder of success. She was still making headway in journalism and business until an illness slowed her stride. Despite her health challenges and eventual transition, Miller-Perry lives on through her family, friends, business associates, and those she helped to succeed in their respective careers.

Calvin Anderson, president of the Tri-State Defender board of directors, said Miller-Perry was a highly respected publisher who cared deeply about her publication and the Black press overall.

“Rosetta collaborated with the Tri-State Defender and other NNPA publications to advance the Black press and inform its readers and subscribers,” said Anderson, who also counted her as a friend. “Her contributions will be lasting, and her friendship will be missed.”

Dr. John Warren, NNPA chairman and publisher of the San Diego Voice, called Miller-Perry’s passing “one of the great losses of our time and our century.”

“In every respect, she was the virtuous woman that Proverbs spoke about in the Bible. She was a woman who lived a life of service to the community, to government, the military, to business and to the people around her,” Warren added.

“She reminds me of the poet Samuel Longfellow, who said: ‘Lives of great ‘women’ remind us we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.’”

Celebration-of-life services for Miller-Perry will be held on Friday and Saturday, July 10-11, in Nashville. Visitation will be at 4-6 p.m. Friday at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, 625 Rosa L. Parks Blvd. Nashville, TN. Viewing begins Saturday at 10 a.m., followed by the funeral at 11 a.m. at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, located at 2261 Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37217. Lewis & Wright Funeral Directors has charge.

Jackie Hampton is publisher of The Mississippi Link newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, and vice president of The National Newspaper Publishers Association.

Wiley Henry is a journalist, visual artist, and photographer, having worked as deputy editor and senior writer of the Tri-State Defender.

Based on reporting by Tri-State Defender.

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