culture

Jada Pinkett Smith has had one heck of a career. The dancer-turned-actress, who got her start on NBC’s A Different World and a slew of roles in 1990s films (Menace to Society, Jason’s Lyric, Set It Off, The Nutty Professor), has risen to A-list status, navigating her way through the precarious maze of Hollywood and the…

Last night’s 15th annual BET Awards, held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, gave black folks just what they wanted and needed: one another and a good time. The past fortnight has existed as a surreal melodrama for people of color. We persevered through terrorism in Charleston, S.C.—a tragedy that offered yet another shock…

As June’s Black Music Month winds down and the BET awards heat up, The Root helps you find out if you’re King Bey or Queen Nicki. Take our quiz and find out!

Some say the church is irrelevant. Others say the church is more powerful than ever. One thing is for sure: Studies and polls suggest that the church has lost the millennial generation and the moral power it once had on issues of civil rights. Whatever the case, the church now finds itself once again at…

The summer before I went to college, I stopped getting relaxers because they damaged my hair, and as a result, my self-esteem was in the dumps. This decision may seem uneventful now, but this was 2002, and I was living in the Midwest. The natural-hair movement, which is now on track to be a $500…

My first real job out of college was working for People magazine. In the early 2000s, I was a stringer for the mid-Atlantic region. The fun part of my job description was running around Washington, D.C., attending events and asking well-known people about their latest project or intimate nuggets about their lives. The grueling part…

Janet Mock’s advocacy and activism. Laverne Cox’s rise to fame in Orange Is the New Black. Even Caitlyn Jenner’s recent Vanity Fair cover. All eyes are on these trailblazing transgender women who have helped to highlight the people and issues surrounding the trans community. But what about the often less visible faces of transgender men…

Even though I can’t physically be at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., for Friday’s funeral service, I am there in spirit—through a connection planted deep in my soul from an early age. My father, Charles, and grandfather, known as Shep in an abbreviation of his middle name Shepherd, were both pastors at the AME Church. My…

Dalijah Franklin’s move to New York City almost sounds textbook. The Warren, Ohio, native planned to become a commercial dancer in the Big Apple, and after graduating from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in nutrition science, she made the move to pursue her dreams. However, her journey in artistry unfolded in an…