(The Root) — It’s fair to say that most Americans are familiar with the Negro Baseball League. Google even decorated their homepage with an image of late icon Jackie Robinson — who left his all-black team to integrate Major League baseball — to celebrate his birthday last month, but what of the Black Fives Negro…

President Obama is gearing up to deliver his State of the Union address soon, and a poll shows that his approval numbers have dropped a bit since his second term began last month. However, experts say this is normal, especially in light of his aggressive policy goals, reports CNN. According to a CNN Poll of…

First lady Michelle Obama brought attention to the gun violence and gun control debate on Saturday when she attended the funeral of slain 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton in Chicago. The teen, who participated in President Obama’s inauguration, was shot dead soon after she returned home to the Windy City, reports the Chicago Tribune. Purple, Hadiya’s favorite…

Saturday may offer a break in the manhunt for former police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, suspected of shooting several people and wounding others, reports the Los Angeles Times. Dorner, a 33-year-old former Los Angeles police officer, is suspected of killing three people and wounding two. Officials with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said armored personnel…

For some time, lawyers have been able to protect people of color against unethical landlords and housing discrimination by using a defense strategy called “disparate impact.” This premise often has proved that unfair housing practices primarily affect people of color. However, that defense is now in jeopardy, as it is slated for Supreme Court review,…

Writing at Clutch magazine, Danielle T. Pointdujour explains why she applauds the cast of the TLC reality series for being so open. Calling the women ungodly says more about the judgmental viewer than it does about the pastors’ wives, she says. Yes, they are First Ladies, representatives of their churches and of the Lord, but…

Writing for Ebony, Rod McCullom takes an honest look at where African Americans stand when it comes to the epidemic. The good news: The number of new infections has finally stabilized at about 50,000 new cases per year in the USA since the mid-1990s. The bad news: The epicenter of the epidemic is Black America.…

Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond explains in a piece for Ebony why models and designers of color continue to struggle even though black personalities top fashion’s “it” list. Michelle Obama is arguably the most important fashion star of the moment. When she wears a designer brand, the endorsement is literally heard around the world with everyone from fashion…