culture

In a piece at The Guardian, black conservative commentator Crystal Wright hits her own party for failing to make good on its promise to reach out to minorities. Nearly a year after GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election, Republicans have resorted to subversive tactics in an Illinois congressional race to thwart the…

(The Root) — When Bluefield State College opened in the late 19th century, it was created to educate the children of black coal miners in segregated West Virginia. But political change, economic upheavals and changing demographics have resulted in a change in complexion at the HBCU. Today it is 90 percent white, according to NPR.…

(The Root) — Somebody’s three-quarter-inch barrel curler was working overtime on last night’s episode of Scandal, from the disintegration of Olivia’s always epic side flip to Mellie’s lightweight lion’s mane. Hair — specifically its undoing — told the real story.  The show opened with a flashback to lil’ Liv confronting her father, Darth Vader, er,…

Sometimes tone defines a word more than the dictionary. Brigitte Geiger and Sharon Jones, two physical education high school teachers in Mount Olive, N.J., have officially had their tenure revoked after referring to African-American students as “Negroes,” according to NJ.com. Brigitte Geiger and Sharon Jones were brought up on six administrative charges by Larrie Reynolds,…

(The Root) — “My ancestors were former American slaves invited to live in the Dominican Republic when Haitians had control of the island. We know that these former slaves came from Philly. Samaná was mostly populated by American slaves. Everyone there pretty much has an American last name — mine from that side is Jones. What other information do…

(The Root) — Brooklyn, N.Y., resident LeRoy McCarthy has long been a fan of slain rapper Christopher Wallace, who was also known as Biggie Smalls, Big Poppa, Notorious BIG and so on. So he started an online petition to rename a street corner in honor of the rapper, who immortalized his Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in his…

Sitting in a wheelchair, Maya Angelou was still a “vivid presence in dark glasses and a sparkling black dress” as the 85-year-old writer accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Norman Mailer Center, according to the Associated Press. The annual gala took place at the New York Public Library on Thursday evening.  The AP reports…

(The Root) — Michael Fassbender, the actor who plays Master Edwin Epps in 12 Years a Slave, told an audience at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado that working with film director Steve McQueen is “painful.” “I like to be punished, and Steve likes to punish,” Fassbender joked, as he explained how it is every…

(The Root) — You don’t go to see 12 Years a Slave expecting a good time at the multiplex — the title alone is enough to disabuse anyone of that notion. No doubt about it, it’s a hard, hard slog, disturbing and despairing, gnawing at the spirit long after the last credits have rolled off…