culture
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How to Survive the Scandal Winter Hiatus
You know that commercial break that happens right before the last seven minutes of each episode of Scandal? The one that makes you want to yell or throw a shoe at the TV screen because you believe that the suspense might actually kill you? Well, for some of us, Scandal’s 10-week-long winter hiatus feels just…
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Female Firefighter Dies in Line of Duty in Philadelphia
Joyce Craig-Lewis became the first female firefighter to die in the line of the duty in Philadelphia Tuesday after she was trapped in a basement while fighting a house fire, the New York Daily News reports. According to the news site, the 36-year-old mother of two’s heroic actions were credited for ensuring that an elderly…
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Ohio Man Cleared of 1975 Murder He Did Not Commit
After spending 27 years behind bars for a murder he didn’t commit, Kawme Ajamu was paroled in 2003. Now, at 57, he has been cleared of all charges, the Washington Post reports. Ajamu was still a teenager, 17, when he was convicted of killing Cleveland money order salesman Harold Franks in 1975, the Post notes.…
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Ala. Police Officer Buys Eggs for Grandmother Who Stole Them to Feed Hungry Kids
It was an act of desperation that caused 47-year-old Helen Johnson to shove five eggs in her pocket. Her family had already gone for two days without food on Saturday when she went to Dollar General in Tarrant, Ala. She had $1.25 but ended up being short 50 cents plus tax, AL.com reports. So she…
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Dennis Rodman: Russia’s President Is ‘Actually Cool’
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has already raised eyebrows with his unprecedented friendship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Now the Hall of Famer has had the opportunity to meet with the leader of another country that has a less-then-favorable relationship with the United States. While attending a recent charity event in Moscow, organized…
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Rikers Island Guard Charged With Lying After Inmate ‘Baked to Death’ in Hot Cell
The New York City correction officer accused of leaving her post while a mentally ill inmate “baked to death” in a cell measuring more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit has been criminally charged, the New York Daily News reports. Carol Lackner has been indicted on charges of falsifying business records, filing a false instrument and official…
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Exploring the City of the Mind Through African Art
The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art opened in late October 2014 in Cambridge, Mass., its exterior walls serving as both real and metaphoric grounding for the Hutchins Center for African and American Research at Harvard University (of which The Root’s editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr., is director). A handsome, angled entry…
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Boston—With Its Turbulent Racial History—Has Awakened With the #BlackLivesMatter Movement
Boston: This city has witnessed an extraordinary awakening and outpouring of #BlackLivesMatter political demonstrations over the past week and a half by a new generation of activists who are determined to change the very face of a city not known as a bastion of racial justice. In the days before Thanksgiving, upwards of 2,000 protesters…
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2 Storied Black Sororities—AKA and Delta—Won’t Let Their Members Protest While Wearing Greek Letters
Collectively known as the Divine Nine, black fraternities and sororities have long been central to the African-American college experience—standing as vanguards of social justice, community service, black excellence and achievement. So it has been surprising and, to many members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., disappointing that they’ve been…