The death of Stephon Clark does what many black men’s deaths at the hands of police do: rally the troops to protest why, for some strange reason, black lives seemingly don’t matter. There’s no way for us to think otherwise when Clark was shot down in less than seven seconds in his grandmother’s backyard.
Women’s History Month may have ended for the year, but women are still making history all over the world. To elevate and celebrate these all-too-often underrepresented voices, editor, activist and philanthropist Deborah Santana harnessed the talents of 69 diverse women writers for a new anthology, All the Women in My…
In 2005, Kanye West articulated the perceived inevitability of successful black men leaving black women for white women in “Gold Digger”—a song 1) in which he was speaking specifically to black women and 2) that he created while he was likely dating either Alexis Phifer or Brooke Crittendon (actual black women).…
A really good friend once told me, “I take care of myself extremely well. So whoever I’m with has to be just as good to me or better.” Anyone who overheard that conversation might have thought that the beautiful Native sista with the long, flowing hair and carefully crafted earrings was full of herself, but nah. She…
If you’re a follower of Hollywood, politics and society—or a journalist who covers all three—you’re likely familiar with Vanity Fair. Though first published from 1913 to 1936, the magazine as we know it today has been in print since 1983 and until recently was under the editorial direction of Graydon Carter, who took…
Seventy-nine cents on the dollar: That’s the number we’ve become accustomed to hearing when discussing the gender wage gap. But grim as it is, further research has revealed that that number applies only to the wage discrepancy for white women. Despite now being the most educated population in America, black women earn…
The self-proclaimed “film geek” Ava DuVernay spoke to The Root about her transition from film publicist to director and her love for making documentaries, and she shares strong advice for African-American filmmakers:
This International Women’s Day, the ultimate present arrived in my mailbox, gifted by my favorite person: me! It was a brand-spanking-new, hardcover edition of my new favorite coffee-table book, Black Girls Rock! Owning Our Magic. Rocking Our Truth.
Malcolm X told no lies when he said that the most disrespected person in America was the black woman. When it comes to dating, no one gets less love than black women because everyone is checking for the girl who looks black, but no one wants the girl who is actually black. Wednesday night’s episode of Freeform’s …
Just when we were longing for last year’s heavily melanated Oscars red carpet, the 11th Annual Essence Women in Hollywood Awards luncheon reminds us that our next surprise win may be much sooner than we think ... and we can’t wait.
It’s Oscar weekend 2018, so it’s no surprise that we’ve been seeing a lot of Viola Davis. The three-time Academy Award nominee, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 2016’s Fences‚ is a regular on the awards circuit and is often called the “black Meryl Streep”—to which she rightly responds, “[then] pay me…
Ava DuVernay is no stranger to making history. She’s the first black woman to be nominated for a best director Golden Globe (Selma), she’s the first black woman to win a best director prize at Sundance, and the first black female director to have her film be nominated for an Oscar. And, now, DuVernay is the first…
When we tell you to trust black women, it’s not just to shout our own praises. Black women have always been at the helm of anything great or convenient that you love. Seriously.
The first paragraph of Brittney Cooper’s Eloquent Rage lets us know she’s not playing with or scared of you motherfuckers:
The first time I heard Sister Rosetta Tharpe, I cried real tears. Not because her distinct sound of music sounded as if one of God’s angels drank a fifth of gin and figured out a way to plug an extension cord into its harp. It wasn’t because I was listening to something that was recorded in the 1930s that sounded like…
Like everyone else, you were excited to see Black Panther. You’ve been waiting for it for years, got excited for the trailers and even read all of the newer Ta-Nehisi Coates- and Roxane Gay- and Yona Harvey-penned comic books. And while you didn’t go full Wakandan cosplay for the premiere, you did wear all black. Even…
Editor’s note: Multiple spoilers ahead.
If “Don’t scare me like that, colonizer” wasn’t already enough to give Black Panther’s Shuri (depicted amazingly by Letitia Wright) the crown as the Greatest Disney Princess Ever—it was, but let’s just pretend that it wasn’t—there are dozens more reasons why she deserves it.
We really didn’t think last week could get any better—or blacker—as we prepared ourselves for the hype-worthy phenomenon that is Black Panther while also stalking New York Fashion Week 2018 to see what—and who—our best and brightest were sending down the runways in their Fall/Winter collections. So imagine our…
It is all Black Panther everything all Presidents Day weekend here at The Root.(That’s no coincidence, by the way. Wakanda forever!) At this point, all of our staff has seen the film—some of us, multiple times. That said, we realize that not all of you have, so gird your loins, because we’re about to talk Dora Milaje.…
