Black Celebs Who Blessed Miami Art Basel 2025
Wise Words From Nelson Mandela That Hit Harder Than Ever, In Honor of His Death Anniversary
Meghan Markle’s Holiday Netflix Special is Just the Kind of Self-Care Black Folks Need Right Now
Why the Netflix Diddy Doc Has Everyone Furious at This Black Woman Juror From the Trial
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Beverly Bond Wants Black Girls to Rock
Beverly Bond has reinvented herself from a disc jockey and fashion model to a self-esteem guru for black girls. In Part 3 of The Root 100 Mentorship Series, the creator of Black Girls Rock! (and member of the 2011 class of The Root 100) explains that her organization helps young women find their best selves…
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Baratunde Thurston Tries Everything
Baratunde Thurston would never have known how much he liked writing if his mother (and chief mentor, he says) hadn’t told him to try everything. The How to Be Black author, who is also a member of the 2011 class of The Root 100, now passes that important message along when he mentors young kids.…
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ESPN: Hoodies OK on Twitter
Read more of The Root’s Trayvon Martin coverage here. “We Have Decided to Allow This Particular Expression of Human Sympathy” Update: ESPN Sunday reversed its decision not to allow employees who tweet to post photos of themselves wearing hoodies in solidarity with Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old Florida youth killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer. “It’s…
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Which Ancestor Do You Wish You Could Meet?
At a panel held after the premiere screening for Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s new genealogy-themed PBS series, Finding Your Roots, in New York City on Monday, Gates asked Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) a poignant question: If you could go back in time to get to know one person from your…
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Melanie Roussell: 'We Can Always Do More'
Melanie Roussell, press secretary for the Democratic National Comittee and member of the 2011 class of The Root 100, has “made it” in her career. But she told The Root that’s not enough. Successful people, she said, have a responsibility not only to mentor but also to give back to the community, HBCUs and others.…
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The Surprise in Cory Booker's Family Tree
The Root caught up with Newark, N.J. mayor Cory Booker at a screening of an episode of the new PBS series Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Booker is featured in an episode of the series where Henry…
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Henry Louis Gates Jr. on His Love for Genealogy
The Root was on location at a screening of an episode of the new PBS series Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Before the screening, Gates told us the story of how he was bitten by the genealogy…
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Voices From the Million Hoodie March
At the Million Hoodie March, a protest to end racial profiling, thousands flooded New York City’s Union Square Wednesday evening wearing hooded sweatshirts in honor of Trayvon Martin, a Florida teen who was unarmed and wearing a hoodie when he was fatally shot on Feb. 26. Rallygoers expressed their concerns and anger about the horrors…
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Hear Trayvon's Mom: 'Our Son Is Your Son'
The parents of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin addressed hundreds of protesters gathered in New York City’s Union Square on Wednesday evening. We made an audio recording of their brief remarks to those gathered for what organizers called a “Million Hoodie March.” “George Zimmerman took Trayvon’s life profiling him. My son did not deserve to…