culture
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How TV Writer Angela Nissel Is Bringing Her Unique Voice to Tyler, the Creator’s The Jellies, and Why Black Female Writers in Hollywood Need to Be Heard
If you took a look at the writers’ room of some of your favorite television shows, you’d be hard-pressed to find a black person, and even harder pressed to find a black woman. But for the last decade, Angela Nissel has been leaving her mark behind the scenes on shows like Scrubs, The Boondocks and,…
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Tracing Your Roots: Did My Ancestor Work in a Prior Enslaver’s Home?
Repeating patterns in Reconstruction-era census records point to possible connections during slavery. Dear Professor Gates: I’m trying to determine if my third great-grandmother (from my mother’s paternal side of the family) was a slave or if her mother was. In the 1880 census in Lytle’s Fork of Scott County, Ky., she is listed as Polly…
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I Tried It: My Co-Worker Shamed Me Into Watching Purple Rain
Yesha Callahan, The Root’s deputy managing editor, is a tyrant. I think my troubles really began in earnest last April when the greatest of all time, Prince Rogers Nelson, departed this earthly plane and the office was reminiscing. Of course, Purple Rain, both the album and the film, came up in conversation. I casually mentioned…
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Trump Treated Sgt. La David Johnson the Way America Has Always Treated Black Soldiers
… And then there’s the story of Col. Charles Young. In 1917, when the United States entered World War I, Charles Young, the son of former slaves, was the Army’s highest-ranking black officer. He was the only serving black officer who was a West Point graduate, and the third black man to ever graduate from…
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Is Infidelity Inevitable?
In 2009 a family friend I hadn’t seen since I was a kid came into Chicago for a work conference and took me out for drinks. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the conversation of a woman who was a little under twice my age at the time, but certainly not what I received:…
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Slowly in the 4th Quarter
Today was one of those “Barely get dressed” kind of days. Today was one of those “You gotta get out of the house” kind of days. Today was one of those “You can’t let the world drain you” kind of days. Today was a “Leggings off the floor, relatively clean T-shirt and closest sneakers” kinda…
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Google’s ‘Dress Code’ Event Inspires Teens by Merging Computer Science With Fashion in Ingenious Ways
When you hear of careers in computer science and coding, you may immediately think of stereotypically boring nerds in short-sleeved button-ups and pocket protectors staring at lines of binary scrolling across a screen. But what if code could create a holographic dress or a purse that lights up in different colors depending on who is…
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Donald Trump, White America’s Favorite Christian
There is no point in debating whether or not President Donald Trump is a “real Christian.” At this point it really doesn’t matter. He is America’s religious darling and is the single most important political figure in mainstream Christian politics. Delving into the minutiae of Scripture and its meaning is inconsequential because none of that…
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‘I Dream Detroit’: Women of Color Lead the Charge for the City’s Future
As the city of Detroit looks to make a comeback, its resurgence and economic development continue to get national attention, but there is a large group of people who get left out of the narrative when we hear stories about the city bouncing back: women of color. A new report by the Black Worker Initiative…