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Is This Black Soldier the Inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo?
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute, part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Rendered with an economy of means and a penetrating observation of…
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Where Was All of This Leslie Jones Haterade When Chris Rock Did His Slavery Joke?
Saturday Night Live writer Leslie Jones’ recent on-air appearance on the iconic sketch show has sparked outrage among those who have argued that when it comes to comedy, certain topics should be off-limits, including slavery—the subject of Jones’ remarks. In case you missed it, she did a bit Saturday night describing how, as a taller black…
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Richard Williams: Driven to Make Tennis History
How many times have we watched that stern, focused visage give way to a knowing grin as Richard Williams awaited the inevitable embrace from one of his just-won-a-grand slam daughters, Venus and Serena? Their names synonymous with tennis dominance, the sisters are the embodiment of a blueprint for success once laid out by their driven…
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What Kerry Washington Can Teach Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian
Kerry Washington did something shocking a couple of weeks ago: She reached one of life’s major milestones—giving birth to her beautiful baby girl—but she didn’t publicize it. She didn’t tweet, Instagram or Facebook it. She didn’t leak it to People magazine. And somehow, in our social media-saturated age, the Scandal star decided that she didn’t…
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Nigerian President: Location of Kidnapped Schoolgirls Unknown
Editor’s note: Days have turned into weeks for the more than 200 schoolgirls who were abducted in Nigeria last month. As reported in this excerpt from The Vanguard newspaper, government officials have admitted to not knowing the girls’ exact location, and hopes that they will be returned home soon are beginning to diminish. Calling on…
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Why We Need to Hear From Condoleezza Rice
The News: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has declined to deliver the commencement address at Rutgers University after protests by some students and faculty, as The Root has reported. “Rutgers’ invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time,” Rice said in a statement explaining…
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I Was Walking Home When the War on Women Got Personal
Since I was a young and slightly overdeveloped girl on the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y.’s East Flatbush neighborhood, I’ve endured street harassment in the form of disrespectful, intimidating, sexualized verbal assaults by strange men. More and more, I’ve truly begun to understand how my experience is part of a larger troubling pattern. One incident in…
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Condi Rice Backs Out of Rutgers Commencement Address
Following protests by some faculty and students over her role in the Iraq War, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined an invitation Saturday to deliver the commencement address at Rutgers University, the Associated Press reports. In a statement, she told Rutgers President Robert Barchi that she was declining the invitation because she did not…
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Pregnant Chicago Woman Allegedly Kills Boyfriend Over Failure to Buy Gift
A trip to the mall ended in a deadly dispute when a pregnant woman fatally stabbed her boyfriend after he bought gifts for everyone, except her, police say, according to the Daily News. Police say Miata Phalen, 24, fatally stabbed the father of her unborn child, Larry Martin, 28, on April 30th at the apartment…
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SNL Spoofs Donald Sterling Debacle
Saturday Night Live tackled the Donald Sterling scandal in its usual fashion, chastising everyone from the embattled owner of the Los Angeles Clippers himself to V. Stiviano, his companion, to the former head of the L.A. chapter of the NAACP. Cast member Bobby Moynihan played Sterling, who bragged about his black friends, alongside other regulars…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
