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  • Living With History: The Descendants of Ida B. Wells Believe Everyone Has the Potential for Greatness

    Editor’s note: For Black History Month, The Root is speaking to the relatives of our most cherished African-American heroes in a series called Living With History. To open the series, we interviewed a descendant of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. Today we feature Michelle and Daniel Duster, the great-grandchildren of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, renowned…

    By

    Sharee Silerio

    Published

  • Watch: My Black History: Michael Eric Dyson on How MLK’s Assassination Opened His Eyes 

    Editor’s note: During Black History Month, the focus is usually on historical figures who loomed larger than life, paving the way for the progress we experience today. But black history isn’t just about telling stories of our past. History is being made every day and has been made throughout our lives; it’s not just in…

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    Peter J. Rickards

    Published

  • Laurence Fishburne and Larenz Tate Launch Scripted Audio Series, Bronzeville

    Laurence Fishburne and Larenz Tate are now taking on the world of podcasts with a new scripted drama about the numbers game in the 1940s neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago. The 10-part podcast, called Bronzeville, launched Tuesday morning and follows the lives of the people who ran the numbers and how it affected the black…

    By

    Yesha Callahan

    Published

  • Living With History: Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington Heir Saw the Burden and Beauty of His Ancestors’ Legacies

    Editor’s note: For Black History Month, The Root is speaking to the relatives of our most cherished African-American heroes in a series called Living With History. Today we feature Kenneth B. Morris Jr., a descendant of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and educator Booker T. Washington, and spoke to him about how the family are keeping their…

    By

    Sharee Silerio

    Published

  • The Last Black History Month

    After Donald Trump issued a statement that refused to acknowledge the 6 million Jews slaughtered by Nazi Germany during the 1940s on International Holocaust Remembrance Day Friday, black America should prepare ourselves for what may be the last Black History Month. I’m sure many of you doubt that the Cheddar Comb-Over could erase a tradition…

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    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • Woman Who Caused Emmett Till’s Death Admits to Lying 

    We all (should) know the story of Emmett Till, the black 14-year-old Chicago boy who was murdered in August 1955 by two white men, J.W. Milam and his half-brother Roy Bryant. As the story goes, Emmett, who was visiting family in Mississippi, had gone into a store to buy some bubble gum. As he was…

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    Breanna Edwards

    Published

  • Va. Mom Furious After Son, Black Classmates Told to Act Like Slaves for Skit

    A Staunton, Va., mom is calling for action after her son, who is in the sixth grade at Shelburne Middle School, was caught up in a controversial history lesson, WHSV reports. Tamika Derozen said that her son’s class was learning about the Louisiana Purchase when “the teacher asked all of the African-American students to come…

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    Breanna Edwards

    Published

  • Black History Matters: Why President Obama Should Pardon Marcus Garvey

    As educators who are passionate about supporting the learning and development of all students, we acknowledge the importance of helping students reach objective metrics and indexes of accomplishment. Too often, however, when African-American students are involved, mainstream courses and curricula do not reflect the unique contributions that African descendants continue to make to world affairs.…

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    Kirsten West Savali

    Published

  • Jeanette Epps to Be 1st African-American International Space Station Crew Member

    The timing is impeccable. Just as the highly anticipated movie Hidden Figures—the story of three African-American women who were crucial in the launch of the first American into orbit—hits theaters, more news of black female achievement in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields has hit the presses. NASA announced Wednesday that for the first…

    By

    Breanna Edwards

    Published

  • National Harriet Tubman Historical Park Is a Step Closer to Becoming Reality

    A national historical park meant to honor Underground Railroad hero and iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman in her hometown in upstate New York is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality, the Associated Press reports. According to the newswire, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced that the Department of Interior has completed a land-transfer agreement that…

    By

    Breanna Edwards

    Published