History
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Nothing but the Truth: A Q&A With Bryan Stevenson, Subject of HBO’s True Justice
Montgomery, Alabama, exists as a paradox. It is here that slavers sold other human beings at market, and where a young Rosa Parks set off a campaign that eventually desegregated a nation. In Montgomery, in the shadow of the state capitol building, there is a haggard monument to Robert E. Lee sitting directly across the…
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Ta-Nehisi Coates Clapped Back at Mitch McConnell for Saying ‘No One Alive’ Is Liable for Reparations. So We Came Up With a List
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing about H.R. 40, a proposal from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) that would authorize a national apology and study reparations for slavery and racial discrimination against black people in America. Among those testifying before the subcommittee was…
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The 10 Biggest Cultural Thefts in Black History
Netflix’s new documentary, The Lion’s Share, chronicles the history of the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” how it became a worldwide hit and—most importantly—how media companies including Disney, kept the song’s original creator, South African musician Solomon Linda, from receiving any of the profits. While discussing the film, someone on The Root’s staff pondered if—considering…
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Newly Discovered Photo of Harriet Tubman Now on Display at National Museum of African American History and Culture
A newly discovered photo of Harriet Tubman is now on display for the first time at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The portrait offers a rare glimpse of Tubman, casually posed in a chair wearing what is described as an elegant dress that features an elaborate bodice…
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Preserving Evidence of the Nation’s Slave-Holding Past Can Sometimes Prove Difficult as the US Commemorates 400th Anniversary of the 1st Enslaved Africans at Jamestown, Va.
As the country this year commemorates the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans being brought to what was then the outpost of Jamestown in the colony of Virginia, history buffs and historians alike say physical evidence of the brutal trade that built this nation and of the people who fought to end it is…
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In His Own Words: Martin Luther King Jr. on White Privilege, Police Brutality, Reparations and More
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a…
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Quiz: How Much Do You Really Know About Martin Luther King Jr?
The Root is black as the rest of y’all. We can collectively name all the members of Dipset; at least half of us have a can of used grease on our stoves right now. We still hide money in a Crown Royal bag, and will judge you for eating macaroni and cheese that we wouldn’t…
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'Slave Bible' Converted Slaves to Christianity by Omitting Parts That Could Lead to Uprising
A new exhibit at a Washington, D.C., museum featuring an abridged version of the Bible sheds light on how Christian missionaries converted enslaved Africans to Christianity by teaching them the Gospel… except the parts about freedom, equality and resistance. According to NPR, Parts of the Holy Bible, Selected For the Use of the Negro Slaves,…
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Fred Hampton’s Death Is Just One Example of the Government’s Covert Disruption of Black Lives
In the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 1969, Chicago police—acting at the behest of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—burst into headquarters of the Chicago Black Panther Party and rained a hail of gunfire. When they were done, chapter founder and chairman Fred Hampton, 21, and member Mark…
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Lost-Found ‘Negro’: Never-Before-Seen Chapter From Autobiography of Malcolm X Open to the Public
When I was growing up, The Autobiography of Malcolm X was like manna; it was part of my introduction to “black consciousness,” at least from a proto-nationalist, the-black-man-is-god perspective. Malcolm was larger than life, especially for us inner-city girls who were as well versed on Surahs as Psalms; his words our Sunday sermon, his persona…