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Will the Real Meghan Markle Please Stand Up?
Ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry, sixth-in-line to the British throne, on Saturday, much has been said about the now-former actress soon to be also formerly known as Meghan Markle. She’s been called a social climber, a “pushy princess,” any number of racial epithets, a stain on the royal bloodline and undeserving of a…
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The Glow Up Anthem of the Week: Ivy Sole’s ‘Life’
Life is short, life is simpleLife is joy, life is painLife is wonderful, and terribleBut it’s beautiful, and love’s the same This week has been a special one at The Root, as several members of our staff—myself included—have revealed our very personal struggles with mental health in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. In keeping…
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#ThrowbackThursday: The Legend of Zelda (Wynn Valdes)
“What becomes a legend most?” That was the tagline of now-vintage ads for Blackglama mink. But if you were a black female entertainer at the height of your fame between the 1940s and 1960s, chances were you found your most legendary looks courtesy of designer Zelda Wynn Valdes. Born in 1905, Wynn Valdes was the…
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The Iconoclast: How Lezli Levene Harvell Is Redefining ‘Having It All’
Doctor. Wife. Mother—of five. Entrepreneur. Food enthusiast. Event curator. Philanthropist. Lezli Levene Harvell wears so many hats, it’s exhausting just to consider what a typical day in her life must be like. Inevitably, the clichéd phrase “I don’t know how she does it” comes to mind. On the evening she speaks with The Glow Up,…
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Just an Ordinary Pain: Living With Persistent Depressive Disorder
Editor’s note: Until recently, mental health and illness were taboo subjects in the black community. But thanks to the efforts of those brave enough to speak on it, that’s changing. In that vein, The Root team is taking this week during Mental Health Awareness Month to write about how mental health has touched our lives.…
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(Do) Touch My Hair? 2 White Brits Specialize in Celebrating the Artistic Potential of Black Hair
A funny thing happened on our way to the royal wedding this weekend: We got waylaid by something else exciting on the other side of the pond. Namely, some of the most striking black-hair portraiture we’ve ever seen, courtesy of British photographer Luke Nugent and award-winning hairstylist Lisa Farrall. But there’s a twist: Nugent and…
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The Edge of 17: For Ahkeem Is a Coming-of-Age Story in the Age of Ferguson
Fun fact: I was expelled from preschool at age 4 during a brief stint when my mother and I had moved to Dallas. From the little I recall, I was one of very few black students at my private day school. My expulsion came after I defended myself against another little girl—not black—who’d been harassing…
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Yes, We Cannes: The Lens Is on Equality at the World’s Most Fashionable Film Festival
Liberté, egalité, fraternité (“liberty, equality, fraternity”) is France’s motto, and equality has appropriately emerged as the theme of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, taking place May 8-19 on the French Riviera. This year’s nine-member Main Competition Jury boasts five women, including Ava DuVernay, Burundian singer-songwriter Khadja Nin and this year’s jury president, actress Cate Blanchett.…
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Henrietta Lacks: The Immortal Mother of Modern Medicine Will Be Honored in the Smithsonian
Here’s a fitting Mother’s Day tribute: A portrait of the woman responsible for some of the greatest research of the 20th and 21st centuries—including polio and in vitro fertilization—will now be featured in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Henrietta Lacks was a Virginia woman who was diagnosed with and died of aggressive cervical cancer in…
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Becoming Royalty: Actress Parisa Fitz-Henley Talks Transforming Into Meghan Markle
On May 19, the most publicized wedding of the year will be telecast worldwide, and millions will tune in to watch as the British royal family openly accepts its first member of African descent, Meghan Markle. Of course, for royal-watchers, no contemporary marriage of this magnitude would be complete without the attendant Lifetime movie to…
