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With a Major Statement for Black Lives and Dual Covers, Naomi Osaka Comes Into Her Own, Off-Court
The sports world took a historic and deeply significant timeout on Wednesday in support of Black lives and in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Among the number of elite athletes and teams staging spontaneous strikes was tennis star Naomi Osaka, who canceled her Thursday semifinals match at the 2020 Western…
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September's NYFW Announces Its Virtual Schedule—Which Will Kick Off With Harlem's Fashion Row
The prolonged threat of COVID-19 has disrupted many of our regularly scheduled events this year, but fashion waits for no one—and New York Fashion Week (NYFW) will be going on as planned this September 13-16, albeit virtually (which should hopefully make it more accessible to fashion lovers everywhere). The Council of Fashion Designers of America…
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More Than a Hashtag: Tarana Burke Joins The Root Institute to Talk Movement Building, Me Too and Maintaining Momentum Amid COVID-19
Tarana Burke knows better than most the power of a hashtag. After all, hers—#MeToo—turned into a zeitgeist moment back in the fall of 2017, as Hollywood actresses began using it on social media in response to the mounting allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Black Twitter quickly rose to correct the oversight of the tag’s originator Burke,…
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It's Time to Have a Crucial Conversation About Our Communal Health With Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson, EHE Health's Joy Altimare and Dr. Joia Crear-Perry
“If you want to feed a person, you pay a man,” says Joy Altimare of EHE Health, one the sponsors of our first-ever Root Institute. “But if you want to feed a village or a community, you make sure a woman is actually enabled to take care of herself and her children.” The direct links…
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Me Too and Essence to Host the Black Women and Girls Survivor Town Hall Featuring Tarana Burke and Angelica Ross
We are in the midst of a renewed focus upon Black safety and survival—and Black female political power—and yet, as we were reminded by our peers at Essence today, “While Black women have the highest turnout rate at the polls, they also have the [second] highest rates of sexual assault,” eclipsed only by Native American…
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Essence Answers Sexual Harassment Claims Against Owner Richelieu Dennis With Results of 1st Internal Review
As the 26th annual—and first virtual—Essence Festival dawned this year, #BlackFemaleAnonymous, a group of “former and current employees” of the 50-year-old magazine published an indicting missive titled “The Truth About Essence.” The open letter (subsequently legally referred to as “the Article”) alleged a toxic workplace culture, pay inequities, nepotism, and “an unhinged abuse of power.”…
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Fresh Off That 'WAP,' Cardi and Megan Dive Into Political Discourse
Fun fact: “WAP” may also be an acronym for “Women Active in Politics.” Both Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are proving as passionate about our current political cycle as they are for the joys of enthusiastically consensual sex—which is as it should be since the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Of course, with Cardi, this…
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On the 19th Amendment's Centennial, Michelle Obama Urges Us to Honor Women's Work in Securing the Vote
Just like our forever First Lady Michelle Obama, we are not going to stop talking about the importance of voting this election cycle—no matter how unenthused you might be. While there were many factors that led to the outcome of what we’d feared would be a disastrous 2016 election (Electoral College, we’re looking at you),…
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A Forgotten First: Before There Was Kamala, There Was Charlotta Bass
We, as a people, love “firsts”—even when we recognize that they are long overdue. This week, many have been celebrating the announcement of Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as Joe Biden’s running mate as a historic first: the first Black—and Asian—woman to be nominated for vice president of the United States. But as the Washington Post…
