black women
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Women Write the World in All the Women in My Family Sing
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 Family Sing: Women Write the…
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Is It a Coincidence That Today’s Most Outspoken Black Male Athletes Are Married to Black Women? (Hint: Nah)
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). Considering Kanye’s present life,…
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#MeCrushMonday: The Audacity of Loving Yourself
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…
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The Breakthrough: Vanity Fair Breathes New Life with Lena Waithe on the Cover
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 the helm…
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Make Money Moves: Some of the World’s Most Successful Women Want You to Know Your Worth
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 a meager 63…
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Watch: Ava DuVernay’s Magical Journey to A Wrinkle in Time
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: A lot of us wait for permission. We have been indoctrinated socially in our society to ask for permission. It’s our unfortunate legacy…
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All the Stars: The Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards Made Oscar Week Much More Beautiful
Just when we were longing for last year’s heavily melanated Oscars red carpet, the 11th Annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards luncheon reminds us that our next surprise win may be much sooner than we think … and we can’t wait. The delightful and dynamic assemblage of some of our best and brightest female…
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‘I Am Mirroring Women’: Viola Davis Gets Real in Porter Edit
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 what…
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Watch: Ava DuVernay’s Ultimate Dream Is to Make Room for Other People of Color in Hollywood
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…