culture
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Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline?
(The Root) — Federal mediators and public school administrators in Meridian, Miss., have reached a landmark agreement to launch a rewards-based disciplinary plan, aimed at keeping in the classroom more black students who routinely received harsher disciplinary action when accused of relatively minor infractions. The March 22 consent decree outlined by the U.S. Department of…
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Listeners Still Mourning Baisden's Departure
A week after he was locked out of his WDAS-FM station after failed contract negotiations, and days after he bid fans goodbye in a Facebook post, talk-radio host Michael Baisden’s departure from the airwaves is still causing a buzz. That announcement he posted on the program’s last day on the air has nearly 1,000…
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Diversity at the Descent From the Cross
(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 Deposition of Christ is a theme often commissioned for altars, and one that is especially appropriate for Easter…
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5 Things We Learned From 'Set It Off'
(The Root) — Who would have thunk it? Set It Off — the 1996 heist film starring Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Jada Pinkett Smith and Kimberly Elise — beat out Dead Presidents, Superfly and Django Unchained in our March Movie Madness bracket. Color us clueless, but in our office pool, we had no idea…
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10-Year-Old on Obama's Basketball Game: I Had to Help Him Out
On Monday, President Obama and the first lady hosted the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House South Lawn. Beyond the egg rolling itself, highlights included music, games, storytelling, cooking stations and an appearance by Robbie Novak, the YouTube star who plays “Kid President.” Not quite a highlight for the real president: Shooting…
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Angelou on Streetcar Driving, Strip-Club Dancing and Her Legacy
In Maya Angelou’s latest, Mom & Me & Mom, the focus is on her relationship with her mother, Vivian Baxter. But in an interview with NPR‘s Rachel Martin about the stories that make up that book, she reminds listeners of the experiences that add texture to her personal story. While she doesn’t yet want to…
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Urban Prep Does It Again
At a glance, it doesn’t even seem like news: A prep school with a great track record sends all of its graduating seniors to college, for the fourth year in a row. But it is. Especially when you consider that when Urban Prep, which now has three Chicago campuses, was founded in 2006, only 4…
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Kevin Ware's 'Gruesome' Injury Not Career-Ending
The Courier-Journal describes the right-tibia fracture that University of Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware sustained during the Cardinals’ 85-63 win over Duke in the Midwest Regional final as “gruesome,” and there’s no question about that — a bone punctured through the skin in his lower leg. But according to a release from the school’s sports…
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MLK's Assassination: 12 Forgotten Facts
(The Root) — Most Americans know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life’s work. But many may have missed or forgotten the full story of his untimely death on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn. To mark the 45th anniversary of the American icon’s assassination, we bring you 12 details about his death and its…
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What Is 'Clean Eating,' Anyway?
April is the perfect time for spring cleaning in your home, but what about your body? On Ebony, Erika Nicole Kendall breaks down “clean eating,” including how to do it and why it’s important for your long-term health. What makes clean eating so important? Quite simply, the exclusion of processed foods comes with the inclusion…