-
Reclaiming Our Sourdough Starter: 'Rage Baking' Began With a Black Woman—and Right Now, We Want It Back
A twisted tale only recently came to our attention, but feels especially relevant today as Paula Deen and her loyal following celebrate her new weekly Fox & Friends’ segment, “America Cooks Together”—you know, because Paula Deen is such a great American unifier. But we promised you a story, so here it goes, albeit a couple…
-
May Is Mental Health Awareness Month. You Hanging in There?
How you doin’, fam? Obviously, as of late, we’ve been talking a lot about health here at The Root. As the world—and the United States, in particular—faces an unprecedented health crisis in the outbreak of COVID-19, our concerns have largely been focused upon the physical aspects of the coronavirus; how to avoid it, combat it,…
-
VSB's Damon Young Wins Barnes & Noble's Discover Great New Writers Award for What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker
What’s more exciting than any work of fiction? The news that one of our favorite essayists, colleagues and play cousins is being recognized for his brilliance! As reported by Publishers Weekly (and our work Slack), Damon Young’s debut book of essays, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker, was recently named the nonfiction winner of…
-
Jeremy O. Harris and Naomi Campbell to Be Honored With 2020 Human Rights Campaign Awards
The fight for equality is ongoing, but the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)—the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization—continues to honor those doing the work. Ahead of its 19th Annual HRC Greater New York Gala on Saturday, Feb. 1, the advocacy organization has announced it will be awarding one of…
-
Doin' Big Thangs: The Root's Michael Harriot Inks a Two-Book Publishing Deal; Will Bring 'Wypipology' to the Masses
He has clapped back at our hate mail weekly; regularly educates us on the inextricable links between American history and racism; has called out Pete Buttigieg on the biases and policies that most affect black America (prompting a sit-down with the presidential hopeful himself); and just this past weekend, The Root’s Michael Harriot broke Black…
-
In The Water: Rhiannon Giddens Pays Musical Tribute to the Painful Legacy of Wilmington, N.C.
Rhiannon Giddens is nothing if not prolific; the Grammy award-winner and Macarthur Genius Award recipient may have initially made her mark as co-founder and lead vocalist of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, but her musical acumen spans genres. From the roots music of her banjo-based all-female super-quartet Our Native Daughters (earning her one of two Grammy…
-
Akhnaten: A Revolutionary King Gets an Equally Innovative Opera
It’s strangely fitting that one of history’s earliest renegades has been immortalized with an opera that also defies convention—and indeed, for those unfamiliar with the music of Philip Glass, the operative word some may use to describe his opera Akhnaten might be “strange.” For the genre’s purists, the Metropolitan Opera’s production of his now 35-year-old…
-
Are We Ready to Have a Constructive Conversation About Slave Play? (Because We Saw It for Ourselves, and Have Thoughts)
In the months since Jeremy O. Harris’ Slave Play upended the theater world (and many of our moral and historical sensibilities), moving from a sold-out run at the New York Theatre Workshop to Broadway, much has been written about its controversial narrative—some factual, some distinctly disingenuous (and some from the playwright himself). In fact,…
