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Were My Black Texan Ancestors Actually Mexican?
My great-grandfather Abe Davis was born in Texas (well, actually, Mexico) in September 1835. As of 1870, he was living in Nacogdoches County, but he may have been born in a different county. His brother Wash Davis was also born in Mexico in 1823. They are alternately described as black and mulatto, so I’m guessing they were mestizo. My…
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I Hate All the Family Drama. Is It Cool to Spend the Holidays Alone?
I dread spending the holidays with my family. What are supposed to be peaceful, fun gatherings always turn into a bunch of folks bickering and dragging up old stories and lots of drama. I never look forward to going home, and I’m thinking about skipping dinner this year. Does that make me selfish? —Anonymous My…
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Lil Boosie Has Been Diagnosed With Kidney Cancer
Lil Boosie revealed on Instagram Wednesday that he’s been diagnosed with kidney cancer. He took the post down, but a few outlets took a screenshot of the post. According to TMZ, the deleted post read: “I need all my fans to pray for me[.] [My] [d]octor just told me I have cancer on my kidneys.…
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Planning A Dream Wedding While Planning for the Future
Wedding season is upon us. One look at magazine stands makes it clear that our society is obsessed with who’s getting married and who’s getting divorced. Did you know that the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton netted more viewers in the United States than the 2014 World Series? According to Bloomberg, the U.S.…
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Being Mary Jane Recap: It’s Your Birthday
Only Mary Jane Patterson can turn her birthday into an opportunity to shame Niecy for her spending habits and then confess to her dad that she had an abortion six years ago. Just when the road to being less awful seemed to be her chosen path, M.J. reminds us all that she is committed to…
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The Best Way to Help Your Kids Through Your Divorce
Harriette Cole is the author of the book of meditations 108 Stitches: Words We Live By and a contributing editor at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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A Very Blunt Samuel L. Jackson Kind of Trolls Will Smith During This Interview—but in a Good Way
Will Smith is this insightful, poetic guy who always has such profound things to say about life and career and love and marriage. Samuel L. Jackson is also a guy who comes at issues and topics from a unique angle, except he’s far more blunt and doesn’t sugarcoat anything. To my mind, Smith likes to…
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Tyler Perry Shows Off His New Bod on Facebook
Tyler Perry has been in the gym and has the results to prove it. On Sunday he posted a photo of himself on Facebook, where he’s at the beach, flexing his muscles and a six-pack that looks like it’ll be super evident any day now. Perry made note of how it’s probably the worst time…
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Black Twitter Hilariously Sheds Light on ‘Thanksgiving With Black Families’
This new hashtag that black Twitter is giving a whirl, #ThanksgivingWithBlackFamilies, has got me thinking about Rachel Dolezal and all of the black-culture litmus tests that people jokingly said they wanted her to take to confirm whether or not she was indeed black. There are so many things that black Americans experience individually—and yet collectively—that thread…
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HBO’s Jordan Davis Documentary Airs Tonight and It Brought Me to Tears
It’s one thing to write about the police killings of unarmed black people, but it’s another thing altogether to “touch the trail,” as we journalists sometimes say—meaning to actually hit the pavement and come into contact with the story, with the people who are personally affected by the tragedies we’ve been protesting with our Black…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
