About us

We wanted Chicago’s journalism ecosystem to tell more thoughtful stories about Black people, stories that captured the multifaceted essence of our lived experiences, and solutions-driven stories that could teach and empower. Back in the mid-2010s, gun violence tallies dominated the headlines above the fold of every Chicago daily’s website and newspaper. As viral videos and images of Black death permeated news coverage, we observed how the media’s relationship with Black communities replicated harm and trauma rather than healing and solutions.

In 2016, filmmaker Morgan Elise Johnson and journalist Tiffany Walden set out to create the digital media platform, thetriibe.com. As co-founders, they crafted the company’s mission to reshape the narrative of Black Chicago, blending and remixing “traditional” journalism methodologies with those of the Black Press that they’d long admired and respected. With the support of web developer and founding partner David Elutilo, The TRiiBE launched in February 2017.

Since its launch, The TRiiBE has produced an annual magazine, a local business and event database, two weekly newsletters and monthly outreach events, in addition to daily reporting on thetriibe.com.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and summer uprisings in 2020, The TRiiBE leaned into the tradition of the abolitionist Black press, uplifting the urgent demands of community organizers and marginalized groups.

Currently The TRiiBE’s editorial framework sheds light on racism and systemic harms within policing, criminal justice and community investment while also uplifting the beauty of Black resistance, creativity and art.

The TRiiBE team, along with its talented community of contributors, has produced thousands of original news articles and works of art that have reached millions of people across the U.S. — and even around the world.

Check out employment opportunities at The TRiiBE.