-
The (Not So) New World Order
Yinka Shonibare MBE’s career retrospective at the Smithsonian just goes to show how strange things get when the empire strikes black.
-
Maybe Your Great-Grandmother Really Was Cherokee
A new exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian traces black-Native American relations from the 1500s to the present.
-
Is the USDA Still the Last Plantation?
During the Bush administration, 13,999 racial discrimination cases were swept under the rug at the Agriculture Department. What will Secretary Tom Vilsack do about it?
-
Rakim's Back
Def Jam is 25. "Rapper’s Delight" is 30. And Rakim is 41. But with his latest album, The Seventh Seal, hip-hop heads can remember the best of the golden age.
Spike Lee Speaks About 'Do the Right Thing' 20 Years later
VIDEO: Spike Lee, in a conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root's Editor-in-Chief, calls out the critics who predicted violence at the release of his groundbreaking 1989 film and clarifies what the "right thing" really was.
BOOKMARK: Walter Mosley
In our ongoing video series Bookmark, The Root talks to authors to find out the personal stories behind their talked-about books. Here, Walter Mosley talks about life after Easy Rawlins, the critically acclaimed hero of his noirish crime series. The novelist talks about the shift from looking at the black-and-white 1950s-era Los Angeles to the murkier present state of American race relations.
Tavis Smiley: Holding Barack Obama 'Accountable'
In our ongoing video series Bookmark, The Root talks to authors to find out the personal stories behind their talked-about books. Here, Tavis Smiley reveals the nail-biting process of preparing completely different versions of his new book, Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise. And of course, he promises to hold President Obama's feet to the fire and make sure other Americans do, too.
Ruby Dee Looks Back at 50 Years of 'Raisin'
'A Raisin in the Sun' opened on Broadway on March 11, 1959, rattling the theater world and the country. The Root’s Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. visited with Ruby Dee at her home to reminisce about the play’s place in history and relevance today.
Read the rest of The Root’s Raisin @ 50 coverage: Black America's First Mortgage Crisis. Lorraine Hansberry's Gay Politics. The integration housing case behind the art.
Also on The Root: The Black Hair Index
(Black) Presidents Day
Presidents Day at the museum has a whole new meaning, now that there's a brother on the wall.
Read the related article by Teresa Wiltz.
The Next Generation of Black Medical Genius
Famed neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, has a conversation with his young protege, Dr. James Frazier.
The End of Black History Month (?)
Spike Lee, T.D. Jakes, Chris Tucker, Tonya Lewis Lee, Michael Eric Dyson, Tom Joyner, Van Jones, Christopher Hitchens and debate the relevance of Black History Month in the Obama age.
Bush, The Lincoln Bedroom, and Me
In this segment of the PBS special, 'Looking for Lincoln,' premiering on Feb. 11, The Root's Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. gets a White House tour from President Bush and the two men compare the 16th and 43rd presidencies.
How Lincoln Tamed His Rivals
In this clip from the PBS series 'Looking for Lincoln,' The Root's Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. talks to 'Team of Rivals' author Doris Kearns Goodwin about how Lincoln used his political instincts and powerful oratory to co-opt his rivals.
Walking in the Front Door
As the Obama family prepares to take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Henry Louis Gates Jr. takes us through a visual history of African Americans in the White House.
