Events
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Nominate the Leaders of Tomorrow for The Root’s Young Futurists
Who are the young, outspoken activists standing up for their communities and calling out injustice? Who are the young, creative artists and entertainers who will tell our stories and represent us in the worlds of music, film, television, books and theater? Who are the young, business-savvy entrepreneurs who are not just looking for a job…
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These 7 Young Futurists Are Already Changing the World
At The Root, we love to celebrate young people who are excelling beyond belief. Year after year, our list of Young Futurists reminds us that age really ain’t nothin’ but a number. That group of 15- to 22-year-olds always impresses us with their tenacity, passion and ability to turn big dreams into reality. Here, we…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Beyoncé Will Forever Be Bey-ond. She’s So Fly, They Named a Fly After Her
What can be said about Queen Bey that hasn’t already been said, done, sung, texted, tweeted, explicated, unpacked, imagined? In an age when there are very few true superstars, she stands alone; one of a few black women, one of a few of her generation. Who else but a few aging rock stars is able…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Shonda Rhimes Changes the Face of Television Forever
The pop-cultural impact of Shonda Rhimes cannot be overstated, although at this point, it’s hard to imagine TV without her forceful, casually diverse, complicated and occasionally ruthless characters who fall outside of what was heretofore the “norm” (read: white, heterosexual male protagonists and their stories). In fact, one could argue that the writer, producer and…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Ta-Nehisi Coates Wanted to Be ‘the Baddest Motherfucking Writer on the Planet’
It is a rare piece of long-form journalism that breaks the internet. But that’s exactly what happened when Ta-Nehisi Coates’ keen, decisive reportage, “The Case for Reparations,” dropped in June 2014, compelling the editors at The Root to give him that year’s No. 1 spot. Part of his The Root 100 bio read: Two years…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Ben Jealous, a Supreme Builder of Bridges Over Left and Right
Benjamin Todd Jealous first made a national name for himself in 2008 when, at age 35, he became the youngest leader of one of America’s oldest and most esteemed civil rights bodies, the NAACP. Before Jealous began his five-year tenure of the then-99-year-old organization, it was clear that the NAACP had calcified into a shell…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Melissa Harris-Perry Lets the World Know She Is Not Your Mammy
The indomitable Melissa Harris-Perry, once the voice of the weekends through her two-hour show on MSNBC—at once ritual before brunch or church or work and a much-needed respite from the unceasing whiteness of political punditry—gave us #Nerdland, that delicious slice of TV that wasn’t white-centered, wasn’t male-centered and was here for all the blerds who…
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The Root’s Young Futurists of 2017 Will Put Your Life to Shame
They are young, gifted and black. They are part of a generation that is poised to change the future. We know this because they are already changing the present. Meet The Root’s Young Futurists of 2017! For the past six years, we have honored 25 of the best and the brightest young people, ages 15 to…
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Destiny Watford
Destiny Watford is the accidental environmental activist America needs right now. Her quest for clean air all started when she was a senior in high school after she saw a play about a small community whose lives were at risk because of a polluted hot spring. The play’s setting mirrored Curtis Bay, an industrial neighborhood…
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Olivia Russo-Hood
Even after tragedy struck Olivia Russo-Hood’s family, she started looking for ways to help others. After a massive flood in Austell, Ga., destroyed her family’s home, Olivia noticed how many people came to her family’s rescue. So she knew it was time to pay it forward. “If I hadn’t received help, I would still feel…