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'Wayman Tisdale Story' Producer on Emmy Win
(The Root) — This year’s daytime Emmy winners and prime-time Emmy nominations were recently announced, but what many don’t know is that there are different types of Emmys awarded, some of which are regional. Take, for instance, The Wayman Tisdale Story, which won a Midwest Emmy Award for best documentary. The film chronicles the life…
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Why 'Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta' Needs to Go
(The Root) — Rarely do I argue for taking a television show off the air. I honestly believe that there is something for everyone and there is a reason for the hundreds of channels that we now have, thanks to evolving technologies. The channels exist so that diverse audiences can be offered diverse programming. We…
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Blaxploitation Gets the Animated Treatment
(The Root) — The much-anticipated cartoon version of Black Dynamite, the blaxploitation satirical film that hit theaters in 2009, finally made its debut on the Cartoon Network last Sunday. (The show is part of the network’s lineup on Adult Swim, which is home to left field, adult animated programs like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and…
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Obesity Conference Explores Vital Solutions
(The Root) — Whether it is Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, the link between childhood obesity and sexual abuse, celebrities’ weight-loss proclamations or the removal of recess from high-risk schools, the fight against obesity has been a major topic of recent public discourse. The Root has launched an initiative to address obesity in the black…
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How Did Blacks Travel During Segregation?
(The Root) — In 1936 a Harlem postal worker and activist named Victor H. Green decided to develop a guide that would help African Americans travel throughout the country in a safe and comfortable manner. The Negro Motorist Green Book (also called The Negro Travelers’ Green Book), often simply known as The Green Book, identified…
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Living Up to the Superwoman Standard
(The Root) — Back in the late ’80s, Karyn White sang “Superwoman,” in which she dispelled the idea of being a woman who’s strong enough to withstand everything thrown at her, including mistreatment by her man. Ten years earlier, scholar Michele Wallace wrote the seminal Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman, a black…
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Love, Hip-Hop and Foolishness
(The Root) — VH1 is clearly committed to capitalizing on the ratings success of Love and Hip-Hop: New York with the debut of Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta. As in the show’s predecessor, the ladies of Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta are involved in the rap game either as performer or wifey of a “famous” rapper or…
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A Mistake Led DeVon Franklin to Oprah
(The Root) — While there have been major outcries about the abysmal state of television programming recently, Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network has been running a series called Super Soul Sunday, which is dedicated to nourishing the “mind, body and spirit” of the viewer in order to “help viewers awaken to their best selves and discover…
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'Awkward Black Girl': Season 2 Premiere Recap
(The Root) — The award-winning Web series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl is back with a vengeance, and what appears to be a lot more money. Co-creator Issa Rae returns in the second season as J, the awkward black girl, making her way through life one awkward step at a time. The usual suspects…
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Putting an Accent on Racial Identity
(The Root) — Every time I say I’m never watching reality television again, I find myself channel-surfing and end up catching a new show. This past weekend, I landed on the tail end of VH1’s Mob Wives Chicago, with goons masquerading as “ladies” fighting on a rooftop of some high-end hotel in the premiere episode.…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
