culture

Before the establishment of the United Negro College fund in 1954, the reality for most African Americans who wanted to go to college was to either come from a wealthy family or get their tuition from private resources or benefactors. Across all racial lines, basic education was reserved for the privileged and college was reserved…

Thanks to The Wire, arguably television’s most underrated series of all time, Andre Royo is affectionately known as “Bubbles” or “Bubs,” the drug-addicted informant. But it’s been some time since he’s been back in the mix in a television series. Although he has a role as Mayor Robert “Bobo” Boston on Amazon’s Hand of God,…

Harriette Cole is the author of the book of meditations 108 Stitches: Words We Live By and a contributing editor at The Root. Follow her on Twitter. 

I am a hip-hop head and could sometimes be considered a backpacker a few Tuesdays a month, but I’m far from being a purist. I don’t hate all of this new “rap” the way that people who swear by Black Moon on Facebook do. I listen to Rich Homie Quan and laugh at Young Thug with the…

Last night, after six months of promos and teasers, Trevor Noah finally made his debut as the new host of The Daily Show with a spotty but promising performance. Noah kicked things off with a series of strong monologue jokes that went over well for the most part. Not surprisingly, he paid proper homage to his predecessor, Jon Stewart, describing Stewart…

You know those supercool media people who get sent advance copies of entire seasons of certain shows, while everyone else has to watch week-to-week to find out what happens? Well, I am not one of those media people. I fancy myself supercool. But no one sends me s—t. Except requests to review books about natural…

There’s a particularly mean meme about presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson and his wife, Lacena, aka Candy, circulating around social media. In the meme, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are striking at the China state dinner Friday. President Obama is dressed in a well-tailored tuxedo, and the first lady has long, side-swept hair and…

When Kanye West announced at the MTV Video Music Awards that he would run for president in 2020, my reaction was, “We’ll never get that HBO comedy show, but at least the Negro still has jokes.” Kanye is like the David Koresh of hip-hop in that, much like the infamous cult leader, Kanye can do…

During the final leg of his whirlwind trip to the United States, Pope Francis was treated to a serenade Saturday evening by none other than Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul. Franklin sang “Amazing Grace” backed by a gospel choir at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia before hundreds of thousands of people, one of…