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Will These Runaways Escape Through the Vast Swamp of Slavery?
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. As if playing out a savage drama on a vast stage, a slave family makes a desperate dash for freedom.…
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Empire’s Cookie Lyon Hits Up Sesame Street in Funny SNL Sketch
Taraji P. Henson, who became the 10th black woman to host Saturday Night Live, brought fire to the set with her portrayal of Empire’s Cookie Lyon. In the best sketch of the night, Cookie, dressed to the nines and sporting her trademark purple fur stole, hit up Sesame Street, talking trash and stealing, well, cookies.…
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A Save-Your-Life, Year-by-Year Medical Guide for Women
Add it to the list of slavery and Jim Crow’s legacies: the tendency to look after other people’s well-being at the expense of ourselves. But 150 years after the “peculiar institution’s” end, many black women tend to their jobs, their children and their partners—even their hair—before taking care of their own health. The tragic consequence…
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Hey Haters, if Erica Campbell’s ‘Trap’ Gospel Song Brings the Message to the Masses, What’s the Problem?
I grew up on gospel music, listening to songs of the genre that would be considered classics. My grandmother was the choir director of a church in Detroit, where I spent every summer. My mother took me to Washington, D.C.’s Vermont Avenue nearly every Sunday morning, and on the occasional seventh day I wasn’t sitting…
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Chicago Prepares to Pay $5,000,000 to Family of Teen Shot 16 Times by Officer
Chicago officials are prepared to approve a $5 million settlement with the family of a black teenager who died when he was shot 16 times by a police officer on the Southwest Side, reports the Chicago Tribune. The settlement with Tina Hunter, the mother of Laquan McDonald, is to be discussed at Monday’s monthly finance-committee…
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Unarmed Teen Shot by LAPD Cop Seeks $20,000,000 in Damages
A lawyer for a 15-year-old youth who was shot and injured by a Los Angeles police officer this year has filed a $20 million claim against the city on behalf of his client, according to the Los Angeles Times. John W. Harris, the lawyer for Jamar Nicholson and another teenager, told reporters Wednesday that the…
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Fla. Prosecutors Drop More Than 36 Cases Linked to Racist Cops
Prosecutors in Broward County, Fla., have dropped more than three dozen criminal cases connected to four former police officers embroiled in a racism scandal, according to CBS Miami. The move comes after three Fort Lauderdale police officers—Jason Holding, 31; James Wells, 30; and Christopher Sousa, 25—were fired last month after a five-month investigation into a…
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Solange Knowles’ Business Partner Stabbed 10 Times in New Orleans
A friend and artistic partner of Solange Knowles’ was in critical condition Friday after she was stabbed 10 times during an altercation outside her home in New Orleans, according to the website NOLA. Arronesia Christophe, 26, was arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder after, police say, she stabbed Mussa, 24, during the incident about…
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Fruits, Nuts and Raw Food: An Extreme Solution to an Expanding Problem
On July 3, 2014, three weeks before my 48th birthday, I weighed in at 207 pounds. I hadn’t weighed myself for a few months. The number was shocking to me for a couple of reasons: 1) I was 27 pounds heavier than my ideal healthy weight. 2) I was a vegan (no meat, no eggs,…
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Was I Wrong to Ask My Husband to Move His Late Wife’s Urn?
My husband’s first wife died. They had two kids. We live in his house. He keeps his wife’s urn in the living room. I requested that “she” be moved, and he and the kids are upset. Am I wrong? —Anonymous So when it comes to relationships, it’s not always about right or wrong. Sometimes it’s…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
