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Color-Blind Casting: Black Actors in Traditionally White Roles
Quvenzhané Wallis is set to grace movie screens across America starting Friday in her Golden Globe-nominated role in a remake of the classic film Annie. In the original film, released in 1982, Little Orphan Annie was a curly-coiffed redhead played by Aileen Quinn. Of course, this isn’t the first time a black actor has portrayed…
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13 Albums to Get You in the Christmas Spirit
Maybe it’s Boyz II Men’s “Let It Snow” or the Jackson 5’s “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” that immediately makes you want to pull out your Christmas decorations. To help you put together a festive playlist, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite Christmas compilations, from classic albums to a few contemporary picks. The…
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15 Savvy Social Media Stars You Should Be Following Right Now
Some people use Twitter to talk trash, Instagram to share photos of food and sunsets, and YouTube to punk friends on video. Then there are those, with the skills of an entrepreneur, who are using social media to build a brand. Brand building doesn’t happen overnight on social media, but there’s already a blueprint in…
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The Root’s Readers Name the 50 Greatest Black TV Shows of All Time
The votes have been tallied! For the past month, readers of The Root have cast their votes for the greatest black TV shows of all time. The Cosby Show won by a landslide, but Nos. 5-10 were almost too close to call. Take a look at what you’ve decided are the top 10 black TV shows.…
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Growing Up Cosby
The Cosby Show, which debuted 30 years ago, overwhelmingly won the hearts and votes of The Root’s readers in our contest for the greatest black TV show. During its eight-year run (1984-1992), the NBC sitcom held the No. 1 prime-time spot for five consecutive years. Thirty years later, with syndicated episodes on a number of…
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Meet 24 Black TV Writers Who Are Changing the Face of Television
This year’s TV season is being touted as the most diverse in years. But before this year, there were still black TV writers toiling behind the scenes on some of America’s most popular shows as they worked their way up to getting their own shows, launching their own projects or forming their own production companies.…
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Leading Ladies of the Law: Black Actresses Who Have Played Attorneys
This week we’re preparing to get wrapped up in another plot-twisting, suspenseful drama from Shonda Rhimes, 2014 The Root 100 honoree and one of the greatest showrunners in TV history. On Thursday, when How to Get Away With Murder premieres on ABC, we’ll meet Annalise Keating, a “sexy, brilliant and charismatic” law professor and attorney…
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The Cosby Show: Where Are They Now?
Heathcliff was the jazz-loving, pinochle-playing and fix-things-until-they-were-broken-just-a-little-bit-more (remember that doorbell?) husband and father of the Huxtables. He was always giving his children some life lessons. But also, he was always, always showing so much love to his dear wife, Clair. Earlier this year, NBC announced that Cosby would return to the network in a family…
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12 Life Lessons We Learned From Cliff Huxtable
Cliff Huxtable is one of the most famous dads in television history. We loved the way he oh so lovingly interacted with his wife and how he doled out advice to his kids—in his own funny and quick-witted manner. As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Cosby Show, which debuted on Sept. 20, 1984,…
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The Do the Right Thing Cast: Where Are They Now?
Believe it or not, it has been 25 years since we met Mookie, Sal, Da Mayor, Radio Raheem, Buggin’ Out and the crew on a blisteringly hot day in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. Lee’s third feature film explored racial tension and police brutality in late-1980s New York City and earned…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
