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The Stars Sizzle in Red Fashions for a Cause
There was some serious hotness on the fashion runway Thursday night as a stream of stars came out blazing in red gowns to symbolize the fight against heart disease. The Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection was presented by Macy’s in the tents at Lincoln Center to raise awareness of the disease nationwide. The…
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Why Did My Black Ancestors Trek From Mexico to Mississippi During Slavery?
I wonder if my ancestors went the wrong way in their search for land sometime between the mid-1840s and early 1850s. They were black, and they went from Mexico to Natchez, Miss., during slavery. Why? My great-great-great-grandfather Thomas Hinyard/Henyard was born about 1833. His sister Milly (Hinyard) McFarland was born in 1837, and his brother…
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Your Roomie Had a Right to React the Way She Did When Your Boyfriend Moved In
My best friend and I were living together when I met my boyfriend. When I became pregnant, he started to stay over every night because I got off work late and he was concerned for my safety. She started to become very distant and eventually moved out. After she left, she called to say that…
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No Shade (Well, Maybe a Little), but Fifty Shades Doesn’t Get BDSM Quite Right
Kink is going (sort of) mainstream with the release this weekend of the movie Fifty Shades of Grey—based on E.L. James’ book of the same name—just in time for Valentine’s Day. The three-volume book series quickly garnered a huge following for its taboo plotline of BDSM (bondage, discipline/domination, submission/sadism and masochism) between lovers Christian Grey—the wealthy…
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Black Valedictorians and Salutatorians: From Coretta Scott King to Richard Sherman
As W.E.B. Du Bois once said, “There is in this world no such force as the force of a person determined to rise. The human soul cannot be permanently chained.” Du Bois set himself apart from his peers with such self-determination, eventually becoming a class valedictorian and leader in his youth. Throughout history, African Americans…
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Leader of Prison Drug Ring Who Impregnated 4 Guards Gets Reduced Sentence for Testimony
It doesn’t matter that Tavon White—a Baltimore convict—helmed a drug-smuggling operation and impregnated four prison guards while serving out a stint in prison. Prosecutors on Monday reduced White’s sentence from 20 years to 12 years because he cooperated with authorities and testified against other prison inmates involved in the drug ring, which included two corrections…
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Wikipedia’s ‘Black History’ Will Get Taught a Lesson by Howard Students
All of Wikipedia’s pages, topics and entries related to African-American history will be getting some sprucing up by students and faculty members from Howard University, according to HBCU Digest. The “edit-a-thon” is part of a Black History Month initiative to be held at the school’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center on Feb. 19. Eligible content ranges from entries…
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Being Mary Jane: I’m Dreaming of a White Baby
Mary Jane is still peeing in the bed. Breakups are hard, but dang, girl. Before she wakes up in soiled PJs, she dreams of David shirtless, making breakfast in her kitchen. Everything is sweet and dandy until she notices a white baby in a high chair. It’s David’s baby, Andre, but because we all know…
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Blues Singer Gladys Bentley Broke Ground With Marriage to a Woman in 1931
Editor’s note: For Black History Month, The Root is spotlighting less famous figures from the African American National Biography, whose stories cast a light on hidden or barely remembered episodes from the African-American past. Gladys Bentley, a blues singer and lesbian icon, claimed to have been born in the Caribbean. Appearing on the hit 1950s game show You Bet…
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Explain It Any Way You Want, but Kanye Acted an Ass After the Grammys
It’s true: Kanye is gonna Kanye. So it really shouldn’t surprise anyone that at Sunday night’s E! Grammy after-party, Kanye West told an interviewer—who just happened to be his sister-in-law Khloe Kardashian—that if the Grammys “want real artists to keep coming back, they need to stop playing with us. We ain’t gonna play with them…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
