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Nikki Giovanni on Her Friend Nina Simone: If She Were Here, She’d Be Wearing a 'Black Lives Matter' T-Shirt
The documentary The Amazing Nina Simone, by filmmaker Jeff L. Lieberman, provides an intimate look at the life of singer Nina Simone, who combined art with activism. Often called the voice of the civil rights movement, Simone made songs, including “Mississippi Goddam,” that spoke to the turbulence of the time and the brutal fight for civil…
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The Impact of Absent Fathers on the Mental Health of Black Boys
Thabiti Boone grew up in a neighborhood where fathers didn’t exist, he says. The few who were physically present weren’t there spiritually or emotionally. “I never saw dads in the park playing with their sons,” Boone recalls. In his own life, Boone, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., says that his father was present but not…
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University of Mo.’s New Diversity Chancellor Vows to Listen
There’s a rumbling going on at college campuses across this nation. Racial tensions are high. For years, students have complained about racism and the lack of diversity in both the student body and faculty at the nation’s institutions of higher learning, only to have their concerns fall on deaf ears. So they have taken to…
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Selma’s Heroic Marchers Remember ‘Bloody Sunday’ of 1965
The images are iconic: the horses, the tear gas, the billy clubs and bloodied bodies. It was March 7, 1965, when ordinary, working-class citizens were brutally attacked on the Edmund Pettus Bridge by Alabama law enforcement during a march from Selma to the state Capitol in Montgomery in support of voting rights. The violent assault…
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Stevie Wonder Speaks About Hope, Freedom and Ferguson
In the midst of his successful Songs in the Key of Life tour, Stevie Wonder, the legendary singer-songwriter who brought us such hits as “Isn’t She Lovely?” “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” “Living in the City” and “Superstition,” was one of 18 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Monday. The prestigious award, the nation’s highest…
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Being Mary Jane Creator: ‘I Think Mary Jane Is All of Us’
When BET’s original movie Being Mary Jane premiered last summer, it drew 4 million viewers, making it the highest-rated cable show for the evening. When the show officially premiered last Tuesday, it was cable’s top show for the night again, attracting 3.32 million viewers. The show’s creator, Mara Brock Akil, is excited about what she…
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Black May Not Crack, but We’re Aging Faster Inside
You’ve probably heard the expression “black don’t crack,” a reference to black women’s ageless beauty. But though their skin may be smooth and wrinkle-free on the outside, black women are aging faster than white women on the inside, health experts say. Dr. Michelle Gourdine, a former deputy secretary of health and chief public health physician…
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Exploring 1963 Through the Eyes of a Child
(The Root) — The year 1963 was a major turning point in the civil rights movement, both in tragedy and hope: the death of Medgar Evers, the Birmingham campaign, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. A new movie written and produced by Tonya Lewis Lee examines the impact of that year on a…
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How Will Obama Help Single Parents?
(The Root) — Between now and the inauguration on Jan. 21, The Root will be taking a daily look at the president’s record on a number of policy issues, including his first-term accomplishments and what many Americans hope to see him accomplish in a second term. Today: addressing the challenges faced by single parents. See…
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Health Care: What Will Obama Do Next?
(The Root) — Between now and the inauguration on Jan. 21, The Root will be taking a daily look at the president’s record on a number of policy issues, including his first-term accomplishments and what many Americans hope to see him accomplish in a second term. Today: Addressing health disparities and African Americans’ health care…
