culture
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Michael Brown Memorial in Ferguson Destroyed in Fire
Michael Brown’s memorial, laid out on the street where he died, was destroyed in an unexplained blaze Tuesday morning, according to KSDK. Ferguson Police Department Capt. Jeremy Corcoran said that the fire started on Canfield Drive at about 6:45 a.m., according to KSDK. The fire was put out with portable water extinguishers, but the cause…
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J. California Cooper, Author and Playwright, Dies at 82
Author J. California Cooper died on Saturday at the age of 82, reports Ebony. Cooper, who was named Black Playwright of the Year in 1978, wrote numerous short stories and 17 plays, including Strangers, Loners and Everytime It Rains. One of her best-known works is the short story “Funny Valentines,” which was turned into a made-for-TV movie starring…
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How Not to Go Broke Getting a College Education
The Root Live: Bring It to the Table returns Wednesday, Sept. 24, with a highly informative discussion about ways to get a college education without going broke. The Root Live, sponsored by Prudential, is a weekly video series tackling financial concerns in the African-American community. Since higher education is a priority for many African-American families, this is…
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Man Wrongly Imprisoned for 13 Years Sues New York City
Johnnie O’Neal cleared his name about a year ago, but the 54-year-old man who spent 13 years behind bars for a rape and robbery that he did not commit is now seeking compensation from New York City for the years he lost, the New York Daily News reports. In court documents, O’Neal, who was convicted…
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Ancient Egyptian Women Buried With Weaves and Shoulder-Length Box Braids
It’s a fairly customary practice now among women—and, I suspect, especially black women—to sew in, glue in or have full-head weaves attached to their hair when they are buried. But because it seems like such a contemporary beauty regimen, archaeologists were puzzled to find a woman buried in Egypt more than 3,000 years ago with an elaborate design…
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Everything You Were Afraid to Ask About Love
If you ask Demetria Lucas what she thinks, be prepared for a jolt of raw reality. For the past few years life coach Lucas has dished out advice on everything from bad BFFs, falling for your FWB (friend with benefits) and freaky sex at her website, A Belle in Brooklyn, and in her column, Ask…
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Charles Blow on the Complexity of the Black Male Experience
New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s new memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, is scheduled for release Tuesday. So far, headlines about the book have focused almost entirely on one thing: Blow’s grappling with his attraction to other men. The author says that’s fair and that the attention to the issue is understandable.…
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Selma’s Director Wants Audience to See the Real MLK
One of the most pivotal periods in civil rights history is finally coming to the big screen. Selma, depicting Martin Luther King Jr.’s voting-rights campaign and the weeks of bloody protests in Selma, Ala., opens Christmas Day. The movie could not be timelier, with current civil rights leaders steeped in a continuing fight over voting…
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Police Search for Clues as Friends and Family Remember Dead Fla. Teens
An investigation is ongoing, but family and friends of two Tampa, Fla., teenagers found hog-tied on the side of a street in Jacksonville, Fla., are left with questions as they mourn the young women. “It’s awful,” Mikayla Green, a friend of 19-year-old Angelia Mangum, one of the deceased, told the Tampa Tribune. “It’s inhumane. No…
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Jury Selection Begins for Michael Dunn Retrial in Jordan Davis Killing
The process of retrying Michael Dunn, the 47-year-old man responsible for the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, in the nationally watched “loud music” murder trial started with jury selection Monday, the Los Angeles Times reports. In February the software engineer was found guilty of three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing…