When I was a child, I was determined to become the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. For a Black child growing up in Richmond, Virginia — the capital of the Confederacy, with its long history of Jim Crow laws and other racist policies and practices — it was perhaps an audacious goal. But in some respects, it was simple. After all, I was just aspiring to a federal job.
I can thank my mother for that. She worked for the federal government for 35 years, at the Departments of the Treasury and Defense. After my dad died when I was in middle school, my mother raised three girls on her own. She didn’t have a college degree, but she excelled at jobs that offered security and stability in return. My family was by no means wealthy, but my parents owned our home, and we had health care. It was enough for our family, and it allowed a little girl to have big dreams.
Many Black families in America have a similar story. Federal employment as a reliable path to the middle class has been central to our economic progress for generations. But the Trump administration’s systematic purge of Black federal workers imperils that progress. It is a big part of why Black Americans are facing such difficult economic challenges right now.
Calling the Purge What it Is
The administration has many descriptors for its mass firings of federal workers. Reductions in force. Restructuring. Reform.
The more accurate term is the word they don’t say out loud: racism.
“The principles on which our Government is based require a policy of fair employment throughout the Federal establishment, without discrimination because of race, color, religion, or national origin.” These words were the foundation of Executive Order 9980, signed by President Truman in 1948, which established fair hiring practices within the federal government. For decades prior, Black Americans seeking federal jobs encountered the typical discriminatory barriers to employment and fair wages. With these executive orders, however, the federal government was sending a long-overdue message to Black workers: You are welcome here.
The impact has been significant. Black Americans represent 13% of the U.S. population but nearly 20% of the federal workforce. In some agencies, it is significantly higher: In 2024, Black workers comprised 36% of the Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development. To be clear, progress does not equal perfection: Black people are far less likely to have higher-paying federal jobs, and are significantly underrepresented among the ranks of military leaders and top congressional staff. But the federal government has for generations offered Black workers job security and protections too often denied by the private sector.
Stability Is Gone
I know from my own life how much that stability matters. The fact that I could go to college, earn a doctorate, and now run a nonprofit organization dedicated to women’s economic empowerment can all be traced back to my mother’s federal job. But families today are not as fortunate as mine. Many of these protections have been eviscerated.
Since his second term began, President Trump has signed dozens of executive orders eliminating federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. He has directed mass firings of career government employees, disproportionately targeting agencies where women and people of color make up the majority of staff. He seems to take particular delight in targeting Black women leaders, such as his persistent attempt to fire Governor Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board. It is no surprise that his political appointees are overwhelmingly White men.
Alarm bells are going off in the private sector as well. In 2025, the unemployment rate for Black Americans has risen from 6.2% to 7.5%, with Black women bearing the brunt of the losses. Presidents are by no means responsible for every economic indicator, but this administration’s approach appears to have emboldened private actors. With respect to things within his control — federal DEI programs, executive branch workers, political appointments, his takeover of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) — President Trump appears determined to relegate Black Americans to the unemployment line. Driving Black professionals out of public service hurts the entire country.
Nearly 70% of Black women are breadwinners for their families, but they face a persistent pay gap and a lack of leadership opportunities. Nonprofit organizations like mine study these trends and launch initiatives to address them, but we can’t solve these problems alone. Instead of eliminating jobs and shredding key pillars of the social safety net, the Trump administration should be focused on expanding Black Americans’ access to better-paying jobs, along with advancing policy solutions that increase access to health care, child and elder care, nutrition assistance, and paid leave.
I did not achieve my childhood dream of becoming the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court; that honor belongs to Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. But my story shows what Black children and families can accomplish if we have the opportunities to match our ambition, the jobs to harness our talent, and a president who rejects, rather than embraces, the racism that still holds us back.
Jamila K. Taylor, Ph.D., is president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
