culture

Archaeologists digging on the grounds of a Philadelphia playground have found evidence of a 200-year-old grave site that the Mother Bethel African Methodist Epicopal Church purchased in 1810 because Philadelphia cemeteries would not accept black people. Among the estimated 3,000 laid to rest there were prominent African-American folk of that era, the Huffington Post reports: Mother Bethel…

(The Root) — Buried beneath the ever-growing pile of rubble that is the negative reaction to CNN anchor Don Lemon’s “tough love” comments about the black community was the excellent rebuttal by Global Grind’s editor-in-chief, Michael Skolnik. “It’s a reflection, it’s a mirror,” said Skolnik when asked by Lemon if rap and hip-hop “glorify prison…

(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. Situated on Boston’s Beacon Hill opposite the State House, the Shaw Memorial evokes a moving combination of intimacy of…

In our society, marriage equals monogamy, but Danielle T. Pointdujour says in a piece for Ebony that she wants to buck the trend and have an open marriage. However, she’s concerned that her marriage will be on the rocks if her husband doesn’t want to take the plunge. Most women I know are the selfish,…

In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, pundits have talked ad nauseam about black-on-black crime and what’s behind it. But in a piece for the Huffington Post, Jason Whitlock says they aren’t hitting the mark. Hopelessness is at the root of it all.  Televised simple-mindedness is not beholden to any particular race, political bent…

Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.

The Dream Defenders, a group of young activists and professionals in Florida, will convene a “People’s Session” in front of Gov. Rick Scott’s office on Tuesday, July 30, in support of “Trayvon’s Law” — proposed legislation that confronts a trifecta of issues that are believed to have led to the death of Trayvon Martin and…

(The Root) — President Obama boldly acknowledged the connection between institutional racism and economic injustice during an interview with the New York Times on Sunday. Obama’s robust comments on the links between racial justice and economic opportunity came on the heels of a week in which the president tried, once again, to shift the nation’s…

William C. Thompson Jr. is the only black candidate in the New York City mayoral race. He has never spoken out explicitly against Gotham City’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy. But in a New York Times article, Thompson not only came out against stop and frisk but also drew a correlation between the policy and George Zimmerman’s…

As a professor and creative director at New York University’s film school, Spike Lee has been honing the minds of future filmmakers for the past 15 years. One of his study guides includes a list that he gives to his students of the 50 films he feels every aspiring filmmaker should watch. The list is…