culture
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Watch: The Root Staff Tries Healthy Holiday Hacks
The Root staff is hacking the holidays, but in a great way. In honor of Thanksgiving, a day where we give thanks and stuff our faces (hopefully in that order), The Root staff decided to try some “healthy hacks” (read: healthful substitutes for Thanksgiving dinner). Khaleeqa Rouse of Paparoxi.com provided the grub: black-eyed peas, kale…
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Why Hollywood’s Portrayal of Black Women Is Problematic
2016 started off great with lots of visible leading black women in television. In series including Empire, How to Get Away With Murder and Queen Sugar, black women continue to show that they can hold their own when it comes to leading a television series. But knowing that, I have to say something that I…
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A Blow-by-Blow Account of the Harris Family Thanksgiving
After the popularity of black Twitter’s #ThanksgivingWithBlackFamilies and our undercover report on the Harris family’s Fourth of July cookout, we decided to embed a reporter for an up close look at Thanksgiving with the Harris family*. 10 a.m.: I arrived early to check out the preparation for the meal. After staring at me through the screen…
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It’s the Super Bowl of Holidays for Black Uncles, and 4 Other Reasons to Love Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Yes, you receive gifts during Christmas, and Easter was great because you got chocolate candy, but Thanksgiving? Nah, Thanksgiving has always been the gift that keeps on giving. Thanksgiving is the one place where family, particularly black families, come together to remind themselves about why they’re connected to…
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Frank’s Hot Sauce and 9 Other Black Thanksgiving Faux Pas That Will Earn You a Side Dish of Side Eye
I have a complicated relationship with Thanksgiving. It has historically been framed as a day, every year, when we are gluttonous to celebrate the fact that white people were saved by Native Americans. Therefore, it is only fitting that Thanksgiving, like the word “n—ga,” has become one of the blackest things in America. As with…
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How African Culture Influences What We Eat Around the World
Do you wonder how our culture influences how and what we eat? For a large part of the world’s nearly 170 million people of the African Diaspora, what is cooked in the kitchen and served at the table is, as Maya Angelou says, “more alike, my friend, than we are unalike.” Remnants of the Diaspora…
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How to Deal With the ‘When Are You Going to Do Something With Your Hair?’ Question During the Holidays
Being the youngest of my siblings, I watched them navigate many family gatherings where they were asked questions about their career goals, relationship status and state of womb occupancy. For a long time, I was always seen as the baby, and no one seemed to be rushing me into those next steps. It wasn’t until…
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Bring a Taste of the Diaspora to Your Thanksgiving Table
Turkey, ham, stuffing or dressing, gravy, collard greens, mac and cheese, candied yams (with marshmallows), cranberry sauce (from the can … gotta be from the can)—yes, it’s Thanksgiving, and this menu is the foundation. It is so ubiquitous; asking your friends what they will be eating this holiday is reduced to shorthand, an easy guessing…
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On Black Men and Mental Health
They say it is only funny until everyone stops laughing. Well, today we’ve stopped laughing, and many of us are quite concerned. This weekend, Kanye West had what is being referring to as a mental breakdown after performing a few songs at a show in Sacramento, Calif. After going on a lengthy tirade about what…