Why Black Folks Should Participant in the Black Census Project
New Study Links ‘Everywhere Chemicals’ Found in Plastics to 2 Million Premature Births
NBA Player Fired Over Anti-LGBTQ Pride Month Comments Sparks Free Speech Debate
Black Virginia Family Finds Army Discharge Papers That Unlock a Mother’s Secret WWII Legacy
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CNN Suspends Roland Martin Over Tweets
Pundit Won’t Be Appearing on Air “For the Time Being” CNN Wednesday suspended commentator Roland Martin over the tweets that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has denounced as anti-gay. A CNN spokeswoman confirmed that the network issued this statement: “Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the…
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AP Lays Off Diversity Advocate
Robert Naylor Jr., a diversity advocate within the Associated Press who was director of career development/news, was laid off on Friday, a day after the news cooperative announced it would restore a key diversity initiative, its internship programs. Naylor’s departure follows other layoffs, including those of other long-serving journalists of color: Dolores Barclay, East Coast…
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Leslie Uggams on Fame and 'Roots'
Being one of the first members of your race to appear regularly on national television is pressure enough. Imagine carrying that burden at the age of 17. That’s what Leslie Uggams had to bear when she joined the cast of Sing Along With Mitch in 1961. “Because of that time period, when I was growing…
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News of Don Cornelius' Death Goes Viral
The tipster who notified TMZ.com about the death of “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius Wednesday morning might never be identified, but no identity was needed for the story to quickly consume social media and expand into the mainstream. TMZ.com, which has gained notoriety for breaking such celebrity news, reported at 6 a.m. Pacific Time: “Don…
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AUDIO: Cornelius on Producing 'Soul Train'
Don Cornelius, who died Wednesday morning of an apparent suicide, lived long enough to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his iconic show, Soul Train, last fall. In this September 2010 segment from the Tavis Smiley show, Cornelius reminisces about the challenge of producing live acts on television. He considered Soul Train to be on the…
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Meet Our Future: 25 Young Black Innovators
They hail from Oxnard, Calif., to Portland, Maine, and several spots in between. They are scientists, artists, entrepreneurs and agents of social change. The Root’s 2012 Young Futurists are our future. After a nationwide search, The Root’s staff selected these 25 African-American innovators, ages 16 to 22, for its second annual list. This year’s Young…
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5 More Latino Journalists Flown to Israel
Jewish Group Sees Chance to Influence Hispanics Five Latino journalists returned last week from an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel in another bid by an American Jewish group to influence the United States’ growing Latino population. “We welcome to Israel a group of prestigious journalists, publishers and reporters from the U.S. Hispanic Community,” proclaimed the New…
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A 'Red Tail' Salutes the Black Press
Tuskegee Airman Recalls Role of the Black Press Black journalists received a salute from a spokesman for the Tuskegee Airmen Thursday night when Dr. Roscoe Brown told the National Association of Black Journalists, “It was black journalists that brought us to the attention of the black community throughout the country during the time we were…
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Washington Post Focus on Black Women
In Poll, Career Success Trumps Having Children, Romance “Black women are far more likely than white women to place importance on career success and are less inclined to focus on having children or being in a romantic relationship, according to a new, nationwide survey by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation,” the Post…
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'Roots' Star: Racial Discourse 'Like 1950s'
Thirty-five years ago, the television miniseries Roots cracked open the national dialogue about race with its searing portrayal of life before and during slavery for several generations in African-American writer Alex Haley’s family. Is America as honest about the way we discuss race today? One of Roots’ stars, Leslie Uggams, spoke with The Root’s editor-in-chief,…