american slavery
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The Root’s Clapback Mailbag: Apologetically Black Friday
A few days ago, during a meeting, I asked The Root staff for more mailbag material. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be hate mail,” I said. “It could be anything worth responding to.” In my head, I was sure that readers had reached out to our writers for a number of reasons. Maybe they tweeted…
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5 Hot Takes From the Olympics’ Opening Ceremonies
Like, whoa. As other athletes in the Parade of Nations predictably wore dockers and sports blazers, Pita Nikolas Taufatofua from the island nation of Tonga came out bare-chested, slathered in oil and adorned in a ta’ovala, a traditional Tongan mat. The 32-year-old will compete in taekwondo for his country, but he won the gold for the…
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Jack Daniel’s Whiskey Most Likely Created by a Slave
For 150 years, the story of how Jack Daniel’s whiskey came to be is that a man named Dan Call taught young Jack how to run his still. But the truth, like the truth of America, is a bit more complicated. And as is often true in America, that complication involves that most peculiar institution.…