History
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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…
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Revisiting Anita Hill: On Racism, Stereotypes and Respectability Politics
“The more things change. The more things stay the same.” My 7th grade English teacher, the black woman who taught me how to write, said that quote in class on a cool spring day in March 2006 and looked at us to explain what she meant. Loads of us scratched our heads in that, “Well,…
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Donald Trump Conveniently Ignores Anniversary of One of America's Worst Acts of Terror
Three days before a national tragedy would shake the entire world, on September 8, 2001, George Bush issued a proclamation recognizing one of the darkest hours in American history. On September 15, 2013, Barack Obama’s White House sent out an official statement recognizing the same solemn day. George W. Bush’s Proclamation 7460 reads, in part:…
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Holding History Hostage: One Family’s Quiet Attempt to Erase Their Father’s Part in Emmett Till’s Story
If there was ever an inverse example of a Confederate monument, it might be the Lorraine, the Memphis motel where Martin Luther King, the most famous leader of the civil rights movement, was struck down on a balcony. Or maybe it is the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Birmingham, Ala., house of worship where four…
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An Open Letter From Harriet Tubman Asking You to Keep Her Name Out Your Mouth
Hey y’all, I was just chilling in the great cookout in the sky playing spades with Sojourner about to run a dime on Frederick Douglass and Richard Pryor when my Google Alert went off. (We have pretty good wi-fi up here.) Once again I heard someone down there mention my name, comparing themselves to me.…