• The Young Futurists 2016

    The Young Futurists 2016

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  • The Young Futurists 2015

    The Young Futurists 2015

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  • Poll: Obama's Approval Steadily Rising 

    A slim majority of Americans approve of how President Obama is handling unemployment, according to a new poll conducted by the Associated Press and GfK. It’s great news for Obama, especially since the poll was conducted before the jobs report was released Friday, a report that was “surprisingly strong” and fairly consistent with Americans’ perception…

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  • How the Concepts of Evil and Darkness Became Linked to African People

    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. When one is investigating the role of people of African descent in Western art, the results often take surprising turns.…

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  • Excerpt: New Book Documents Courage of Harriet Tubman and Underground Railroad

    Editor’s note: Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and scholar Eric Foner has just published Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad. With new research and documentation, Foner explores the courageous lives of those who helped slaves escape to freedom on the Eastern corridor of the U.S. and describes how their actions affected the Civil…

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  • Meet 25 Young People Who Will Inspire You and Everyone You Know

    Please join us in congratulating the 25 extraordinary young people who have been selected as the 2015 Young Futurists by The Root. It is our tradition to recognize and celebrate African-American men and women, ages 16-22, who are forging a path to future greatness. We choose Black History Month to acknowledge their accomplishments as a…

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  • In Ferguson—and All of Our Communities—Education Can Be the Great Equalizer

    Following Michael Brown’s tragic death, people across the country—and the world—have grieved together and engaged in critical conversations about race and community relationships. When President Barack Obama hosted a dialogue in December with young people on the issues in Ferguson, Mo., I asked the youngest members of the Ferguson commission how I could be helpful.…

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  • Review: D’Angelo Leaves Harlem’s Apollo Audience Enraptured

    After D’Angelo finally dropped his first recording in 14 years, Black Messiah, last December to wide critical acclaim, his fans and the music industry exhaled. On Saturday night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, the reclusive artist brought his new band, Vanguard, and the sigh of relief became a secular ritual of jubilation for a…

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  • Huckabee Blasts Obama for Noting That Islam Isn’t the Only Religion With Terrorists 

    Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and candidate in the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, is blasting President Barack Obama yet again, but this time it’s not about how the president lets daughters Malia and Sasha listen to Beyoncé’s music. This time it’s about Obama’s recent remarks in which the president reminded people that Islam is not…

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  • Carol Taylor’s 1st Flight Made History for African Americans

    Who was the first African-American flight attendant for a U.S. airline? The skies weren’t always so friendly to black people. In the mid-1950s, the handful of black employees working for the major U.S. carriers were in service positions, and all the pilots (male only) and flight attendants (stewardesses or hostesses, in the vernacular of the…

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