culture

  • Started From the Blog, Now We’re Here: When Shonda Rhimes Wants to Turn Your Book Into a TV Show, Let Her

    We’re living in a DIY culture, and there’s no one more do-it-yourself than bloggers. Blogging is a means of communication, self-expression, culture, news and so much more. And the people who create blogs are typically ridiculously talented and effortlessly wear the responsibility of being a voice for their culture. Bloggers are inspiring, to say the…

  • Watch: Hashtag Revolution: Breaking Down Necessity of #BlackGirlMagic Through 1 Magical Black Girl

    Hashtags have defined pop culture. You spot them all over social media, and now many of them have become popular phrases, especially when they highlight blackness: #BlackBoyJoy, #BlackLivesMatter, #GrowingUpBlack and the list goes on. #BlackGirlMagic is obviously one of those transcendent hashtags. These three words smashed together bring a smile to even the tightest lips.…

  • Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Jeh Johnson Respond to The Root’s Morehouse Investigation

    As Morehouse College’s alumni, students and faculty discover the years of obfuscation by the board of trustees revealed in The Root’s investigative piece “The War at Morehouse,” three of the college’s most distinguished and successful alumni weighed in on the revelations exposed in our probe. Academy Award-nominated actor Samuel. L Jackson (Class of ’72), former…

  • Reports of Tension at Morehouse Have Led to ‘State of Confusion’ at Famed HBCU

    Last week The Root published an extensive investigative piece that revealed years of turmoil between the faculty, students and board of trustees at Morehouse College. Since these revelations were made public, the repercussions have echoed through the halls of the 150-year-old institution, resulting in what the college’s Student Government Association president has termed a “state of…

  • The National Interest: Teaching Gender Studies in Sex Ed Courses Is a Matter of Life and Death

    Editor’s note: Once a month, the National Interest column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. We can’t teach safe sex if kids don’t understand their own and others’ gender identities. Women across the gender spectrum are being killed and raped every day, but our…

  • 7 Reasons Black America Should Fight Marijuana Prohibition

    Take a deep breath. Can you smell the weed smoke billowing in from Colorado and California? Have you read about the citizens of Maine and Massachusetts who turned into zombies from puffing blunts all day? Have you seen the news reports about the scores of people in Oregon and Nevada who overdosed on marijuana? No.…

  • According to Republicans, Black People Are Stupid and Lazy

    In the latest round of “studies confirming stuff we already knew,” newly released opinion-poll data from the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center shows that people who identify as Republican are more likely to believe that blacks are less motivated and less intelligent than whites. The survey results also reveal that more Republicans believe…

  • The Real Housewives of Potomac Returns: Still High-Siddity and Super Shady

    Whenever I watch The Real Housewives of Jack and Jill Potomac, I have to ask myself if I really like this show or if I merely hate myself. Between their racial politics, color complexes and obsession with pretending that Potomac is the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area’s equivalent of St. Barts (select dictators certainly think so),…

  • Where Are All the Black Bone Marrow Donors? 

    “You don’t want to see him on a good day, to be honest; it’s still pretty bad,” Charline Bullock said in an exclusive interview with The Root.  Her 5-year-old son, Asaya, suffers from immune dysregulation, polyendocrinopathy, enteropathy, X-linked (or IPEX) syndrome, a rare genetic blood disorder that causes multiple autoimmune disorders. “He is a such…

  • #HairInspo: How 3 Black Female Techies Are Hoping to Cater to All Your Black Hair Needs

    If you’re on this website, I’m going to take it as a given that I don’t need to tell you about the relationship between black women and their hair. And I don’t mean in a political kind of way. I mean the sense of culture and community that surrounds how we groom our luscious locks,…