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Let’s Remember—Mandela Was a Revolutionary
Watching the world mourn the loss of Nelson Mandela is an experience at turns uplifting and incredibly odd. In the first few hours of coverage after his death at age 95 on Thursday, there were the obligatory references to Mandela having “gone home” after leading his nation to a “unified” and higher state. Here, said…
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Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s Harvard Address to Nelson Mandela
Editor’s note: Henry Louis Gates Jr. addressed President Nelson Mandela with the following words on the conferring of a special honorary degree on Mandela by Harvard University on Sept. 18, 1998: Like so many of my fellow faculty members, I attended university in the late ’60s and early ’70. Ours was a generation that came…
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How Mandela Changed African Politics
It will be easy to remember Nelson Mandela, the iconic, larger-than-life activist and freedom crusader. Reflections on Mandela will, naturally, focus on the human rights-advocate aspect of his life: from years unjustly locked in an apartheid-era prison to his obsession with racial reconciliation in a country that seemed irreversibly distant from it. While Mandela’s personal…
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5 Important Lessons From Nelson Mandela
As the world mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela, one of the most revered human rights activists in history, tributes have poured in from world leaders, including President Obama, as well as everyday people whose lives were touched by his work and legacy. Those who knew him personally are recalling his most inspiring moments. But…
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Warm, Intimate Photos of Nelson Mandela Through the Years
African National Congress member Nelson Mandela and his new bride, Winnie, at their wedding in 1957. The attorney and anti-apartheid activist in 1961. Mandela and his then-wife, Winnie, raise their fists in February 1990 to salute a cheering crowd upon his release from prison. Nelson Mandela at a prison-release rally in 1990. Mandela attends a…
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Minimum Wage: Feed a Cash Register, Not a Family
With a few weeks remaining in the holiday-shopping season, there’s an earth-shifting political movement to raise the minimum wage. On the surface, it seems like a pretty simple equation, added to a big political pay-off and great social feel-good narrative. But, in reality, this is just populist window-dressing to give struggling Americans the false hope…
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Haitians Are Dying at Sea Trying to Reach the US
On Nov. 18, in the nearly 500-mile stretch of the Caribbean that sits between Haiti and the United States mainland, boaters commanding small vessels awoke to a dire marine forecast that predicted “hazardous seas,” “dangerous rip currents” and winds capable of producing 12-foot waves. Small vessels, it said, should not leave harbor. But for the…
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How Obama Has Changed Black Journalists
Left of Black host and Duke professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by The Root’s own David Swerdlick, who talks about modern journalism and President Obama’s influence on his career. Later, Neal is joined by journalist and playwright Esther Armah to discuss her Emotional Justice project and its holiday campaign for forgiveness, “The ‘F’ Word.”…
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Schooling Those Who Say Stupid Things About Rape Accusations
When news broke that Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston would not be charged in the rape allegations made against him by a former fellow student, reactions on Twitter were predictably all over the place. Folks congratulated Winston for beating the charge. People were also really irritated with ESPN for continuing to cover the story. Then…
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Quote of the Day: Nelson Mandela on Democracy
Read the quote in its full context here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
