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Watch: Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins on Race’s Importance in Narratives
“It blew my mind the first time I saw a black character on an HBO show that wasn’t in jail. Diversity is important because the world is diverse.” —Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was recognized on The Root 100 this year for his work changing narratives through the theatrical arts. In 2016, Jacobs-Jenkins was awarded a…
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Watch: The Truth About Thanksgiving
So the story is told, the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims and Native Americans gathered for a communal meal after a successful fall harvest. But we know the story didn’t go down quite like that. After the first Thanksgiving in 1621, Europeans proceeded to push Native Americans out of their own territories, slaughtered them en masse and…
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Watch: Maxine Waters Honored With The Root 100 Gladiator Award
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) was honored with The Root 100 Gladiator Award for Public Service on Nov. 9 at The Root 100 gala. Rep. Waters, the first-ever recipient of the award, has tirelessly resisted white supremacy and spoken out against the current presidential administration. The award acknowledges her political career and her work in…
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Watch: The Real Woman Behind ‘Me Too’
‘ Tarana Burke is an activist, an organizer, a mother, a survivor of sexual violence and the founder of the Me Too Movement. Burke founded the campaign in 2006 after a young girl confided in her, sharing a story of abuse—which Burke recounts on her website. Burke froze up and suggested that someone else help…
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Watch: Why Colin Kaepernick Took a Knee
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has made waves with his national anthem protest, which he started in August 2016—about a month after police shot and killed Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and two years after the Black Lives Matter movement gained national attention. To be clear: Kaepernick’s intention was to protest social injustice…
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Watch: Why the Black Kids Still Sit Together
Two decades ago, Beverly Daniel Tatum posed a question to the world in the book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? The author, psychologist and president emerita of Spelman College responded to the question while deeply delving into issues of race and racial identity in her 1997 best-selling book. “It’s not…
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Watch: How Black Lawmakers Are Resisting Trump
Make no mistake: Many black lawmakers are not here for President Donald Trump. And they weren’t shy about sharing their disdain for 45 at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 47th Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. “Every time he soft-pedals the Klan and the Nazis and calls for a Muslim ban and wants to build…
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Watch: Segregated Schools, Then and Now
The Little Rock Nine made history 60 years ago when they became the first black students to enroll in an all-white high school in Little Rock, Ark. The black teenagers stood outside Central High School for three weeks, where they faced opposition from an angry mob of protesters, fellow classmates and state officials. In fact,…
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Watch: We Built This
There are some people out there who get upset whenever we say, “Black labor built this country.” But these are, indeed, #facts. Here’s a quick history lesson. The first slaves were brought to the United States in 1619. Their job was simple: make white settlers money. Fast-forward to the late 18th century. Cotton was king…
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Watch: America’s Racist History of Labor
News flash: The history of labor in America is racist AF. Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 after a railroad strike led by the American Railway Union known as the Pullman Strike. This was a turning point in the labor movement, though it didn’t benefit all American workers. Black Pullman porters weren’t allowed…
