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Bernice King: Dream Defender
(The Root) — On an historic day in August 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered these words on the state of racial affairs in America a century after the Emancipation Proclamation: “One hundred years later the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled…
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The March: Scholars Have Their Say
(The Root) — In the opening line of his “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. predicted that the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom would “go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history…
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Quote of the Day: Samuel D. Proctor on the Civil Rights Movement
Read the full quote here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute 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.
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The Danger of the Strong Black Woman Trope
People should simply attribute Georgia school bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff’s heroic efforts to her humanity rather than to her being a strong black woman, Tressie McMillan Cottom writes at her tressiemc.com blog. Tuff is an amazing woman who did what we can each only hope to be brave enough to do when so many lives are at…
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Are Parents to Blame When Children Break the Law?
It’s time for parents to be held accountable when their children run amok, CNN‘s L.Z. Granderson writes in a stinging piece that addresses several heinous crimes around the nation involving youth gun violence. “We don’t teach accountability, we don’t expect accountability and I’m not even sure we even know what accountability looks like anymore,” he…
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The Copyright Problem With MLK's 'Dream' Speech
Martin Luther King Jr.’s superlative “I Have a Dream” speech “is not free, alas,” Mother Jones‘ Lauren Williams writes. It will not be in the public domain until 2038, and until then, commercial enterprises wishing to use it must pay his estate a hefty fee. I have a dream that on the 50th anniversary of the…
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Todrick Hall Wins the Internet — Again
Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.
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'The Butler' Versus 'The Help': Gender Matters
(The Root) — Like many of the films in the “it’s complicated” historical-fiction genre, Lee Daniels’ The Butler uses broad strokes to paint a decidedly unpretty picture — the cinematic equivalent of an Instagram filter. But despite the artistic liberties and Forest Gump-like rendering of the life of White House butler Cecil Gaines — based…
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I'm White. Did My Ancestors Own Slaves?
(The Root) — “Although we can trace my maternal grandmother’s heritage back to Europe, she periodically received family-reunion invitations from another family with the last name ‘Ellzey,’ which was her husband’s last name. Turns out there must have been a slave owner named Ellzey, too, because I’m pretty sure my grandma was the only white…
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1st Pic of Baby North West Hits the Net
(The Root) — It’s a good thing Kanye wasn’t planning on heading to the Maury show, because with those cheeks, there is no denying who little North West’s father is. She’s even got her “I’ma let you finish” hand out. Kris Jenner tweeted the very first picture of little Nori this morning, and Twitter has…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
