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'Sleepy Hollow': A New Day for Race on TV?
(The Root) — Of course, back in 1820, when Washington Irving penned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, most black folks were in chains, women were little more than decorative chattel and a headless horseman turned out to be a practical joke formed out of a pumpkin. Clearly, a black detective — free and female —…
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Top Black Techies: The Gadgets They Love
Teresa Wiltz is senior staff writer at Stateline, the journalism outlet of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Yes, we should all probably spend a little more time unplugging from the matrix. But who doesn’t love a good gadget? For starters, they make life easier. For those who care about that sort of thing, there’s cachet in…
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For Black Boys, Dream Education Deferred
(The Root) — Anyone black who’s done time in prep school can appreciate the mixed bag of experiences it can bring: On the one hand, there’s the potential — the promise — of receiving a world-class education, one that makes the transition to the Ivy League practically painless. On the other hand, there’s the potential…
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This Movie Is So Good It Hurts
(The Root) — You don’t go to see 12 Years a Slave expecting a good time at the multiplex — the title alone is enough to disabuse anyone of that notion. No doubt about it, it’s a hard, hard slog, disturbing and despairing, gnawing at the spirit long after the last credits have rolled off…
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A Child, a Singer, a Comic Top Philanthropy List
Teresa Wiltz is senior staff writer at Stateline, the journalism outlet of the Pew Charitable Trusts. ’Tis the season for giving—and some folks give a lot more than others. Some are celebrities wielding big checkbooks, while others are working behind the scenes, donating their time and talent. But whoever they are, they’re all about uplifting…
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Everyone Knew His Name. Now Hear His Story
There was a time, back in the ’80s and the ’90s, when you couldn’t turn the corner in Washington, D.C., and not see some evidence that Cool Disco Dan had been there. Way before Banksy, the D.C. graffiti artist was blasting his nom de plume on the sides of buildings, on bridges and on subway…
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2013 Pretty Much Sucked for Black People
Oh, sure, 2013 started on an optimistic note. President Obama, having won re-election by a landslide, was sworn in at the beginning of the year, setting the stage for his second term with soaring, progressive rhetoric filled with big vision and big promises. (And a lip-synching Beyoncé.) But there were times along the way that…
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Great African-American Entrepreneurs Who Made History
Teresa Wiltz is senior staff writer at Stateline, the journalism outlet of the Pew Charitable Trusts. From the very beginning, black Americans have struggled to make a way out of no way. Faced with rampant racism and discrimination, industrious African Americans decided to do for self, launching their own businesses and empires. In honor of…
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Black Inventors: Innovators Who Changed the Way We Live
Teresa Wiltz is senior staff writer at Stateline, the journalism outlet of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Way before George Washington Carver got busy in a chemistry lab, African Americans were revolutionizing U.S. industry with their amazing inventions. Some of them were born enslaved, others were born free, but they all had one thing in common:…
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The Wild Adventures of a ‘Colored Girl’ in the Early 20th Century
Anita Thompson Dickinson Reynolds was the black—or mocha—Zelig, traipsing continents at will, dancing on Broadway, acting in Hollywood with Rudolph Valentino, toiling as a journalist during the Spanish Civil War, slumming it with French royalty—all the while rubbing shoulders with the likes of Coco Chanel, Ernest Hemingway, Charlie Chaplin and W.E.B. Du Bois. As Reynolds…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
