history
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In a Scene of a Harem Bath, 2 Women From Different Worlds Are Linked by a Common Bond
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Within the intimate confines of a sumptuous harem bath, two women engage in a ritual of purification unfamiliar to Western…
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Why Greek Goddesses Appear as Black Women on an Ancient Ceramic Cup
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The skyphos is a large ceramic cup used by the ancient Greeks for the consumption of large quantities of wine.…
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I’m Irish and Need Help Tracing Ancestors in Bermuda
I live in Ireland and I had a DNA test done by 23andMe to find out more about my great-granny on my dad’s side. She was born in Bermuda around 1882-1884, and may have been named Clarissa Bascome Darrell. I know my great-granddad was Joseph Luzero Ward, but he was married twice and my great-grandmother…
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In the Shadow of the Crucifixion, a Battle of Good vs. Evil Takes Form
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In a rocky valley outside Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus gather below his crucified body in a sacred tableau of…
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A Cheat Sheet for Researching African-American Ancestors
Over the past few years that we’ve been writing this column, we’ve encountered numerous people who have reached the “brick wall” of emancipation when researching their African-American ancestors. They are stymied by the fact that before the end of the Civil War, enslaved African Americans were rarely recorded by name in documents of any kind,…
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A Bloody History of Police Brutality in Baltimore
Read the New York Times, Washington Post or Wall Street Journal and they tell you that violence broke out in Baltimore last Monday. You might have heard an NPR correspondent refer to an “eruption of violence” in the city. But the New Republic’s Rebecca Traister disagrees: “Violence broke out and erupted not when students threw…
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A Coming-of-Age Scene From Black and White Perspectives
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Two young men, one white, one black, have stopped in a grassy meadow, bordered by a split-rail fence, in search…
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With Attacks on Foreigners, South Africa Exposes Its Anti-Africa Bias
South Africa is struggling with the diplomatic and economic fallout from a recent episode of xenophobic violence that saw seven foreigners killed, scores wounded and thousands of people displaced. Several African governments have sharply criticized South Africa’s tardy response and sent buses and planes to repatriate their citizens. Some threatened to retaliate against South African…
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Am I Related to Slave-Revolt Leader Nat Turner?
My father, who will be 83 next month, has been doing family research for many years. On his maternal side, the rumor has been that we are related to the famous slave Nat Turner. Could you help us find out? My father’s memory is fading, and so time is running out to solve the mystery…
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10 Landmark Cases That Show How the NAACP LDF Reshaped Racial Justice
The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund has been fighting for justice on behalf of African Americans for the past 75 years. Started in 1940 by its first director-counsel, Thurgood Marshall—who would go on to become the first African-American Supreme Court justice—the organization has been the legal arm of the civil rights movement, fighting for justice,…