culture

(The Root) — This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. The Adoration of the Magi is one of the most enduring images in Christian art. It not only evokes…

(The Root) — Carol and Willie Fowler had reservations for 200 at the high-end fine-dining Italian restaurant and special-event space Villa Christina in their hometown of Atlanta. The dinner was originally intended to celebrate the wedding of their daughter, Tamara, but 40 days before the planned nuptials, Tamara told them the wedding was off, leaving them with…

(The Root) — It’s almost Scandal time again, and those of us who survived the withdrawal are already planning our wine-and-popcorn parties for the premiere on Oct. 3. Last season’s finale left us with tons of burning questions with which we’ve had to suffer for months. Now, with Scandal’s return a mere 10 days away,…

Claire Danes won the Emmy Award on Sunday for best drama series actress for her role as a troubled CIA agent on Homeland, beating out Kerry Washington for top actress honors, the Associated Press reports.  Fans of ABC’s Scandal had hoped Washington would win for her role as Olivia Pope. Indeed, it would have been a historic…

Howard professor Gilbert Newman Perkins, in a piece at the Washington Post, tackles America’s foundering perceptions about hip-hop, arguing that it’s largely pundits who know nothing about the art — or how to groove to it! — who shape opinion about it. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that neither Bill O’Reilly nor…

In a piece at the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that what Brad Paisley, of “Accidental Racist” fame, fails to understand about blacks and the Confederate flag is that it is far worse than “offensive.” He tackles the politics of offense and offense-taking. New York’s Jody Rosen has an interview up with Brad Paisley that’s worth checking out. When…

Parents in Hartford, Conn., should be applauded for complaining about a school system’s American history lesson that forced middle schoolers to re-enact slavery scenes, writes Gene Denby at NPR‘s blog Code Switch. But it does raise the question, he says, of how parents should talk to children about race. The parents are suing the school,…

(The Root) — In a strange turn of events, it appears that no one knows exactly where George Zimmerman is, and therefore he can’t be served divorce papers, a lawyer representing his estranged wife, Shellie, tells TMZ. Until Zimmerman is served with papers, the lawyer says, the divorce cannot move forward. Sources close to George’s family…

The Root’s editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr., lamented the loss of 78-year-old Kofi Awoonor, a noted literary figure, who was among 39 people killed during a militant attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, according to news reports. “Kofi Awoonor was one of the pioneering figures in the history of African literature,” Gates said in…