history
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Gone With the Wind and Its Pernicious Place in History
Well, fiddledeedee, as Scarlett O’Hara might exclaim: Gone With the Wind, the epic film of love and war set against the backdrop of a doomed Southern slavocracy, is turning 75, with special screenings in movie theaters around the nation and an airing on TV, too. While black film buffs and thrill seekers will be in…
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Honoring the African Slaves of Peru With a Dance
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 contribution of people of African descent to the performing arts of Peru has followed a long and varied arc.…
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Stephen King, Courtney B. Vance and Gloria Reuben Featured in Tuesday’s Season Premiere of Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Since the premiere of his groundbreaking series African American Lives (2006) and through the first season of Finding Your Roots (2012), noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Tomorrow, in the second-season premiere of Finding Your Roots With…
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Courtney B. Vance Discovers a Rebellious Slave in His Family Tree
In their book Friends: A Love Story, actor Courtney B. Vance and his actress wife, Angela Bassett, laid bare their seven-year struggle with infertility, along with their unwavering faith that they would someday conceive a child. They ultimately gave birth to twins, Bronwyn Golden and Slater Josiah, with the help of a surrogate. Through his…
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Can You Help This ‘Brown Baby’ Find Her White Mom?
My sister and I were “brown babies,” which is what children born to African-American soldiers and German women during and after World War II were called. However, I was adopted as an infant and raised by African-American parents. I was raised as Renate D. Loveless (my maiden name). I have located my African-American roots and…
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In a Vision of the Apocalypse, What Fate Awaits the People of Africa?
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. Tucked away at the base of a distant mountain, a tightly knit group of black figures await their destiny as the…
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In Whose Garden Did the Harlem Renaissance Grow?
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 91: Which black female poet…
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How Do I Find Descendants of My Ancestor’s Slaves?
Through wills and census reports found during family research, I have discovered a couple sets of ancestors who owned slaves. Although most of the documents note slaves only by age and gender, I have come across three names: Sam, Dinah and Sutton, who were owned by James W. Hampton Sr. in Virginia around 1774. I…
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The Octoroon: A Tragic Mulatto Enslaved by 1 Drop
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. Though it would hardly seem likely at first glance, this pallid image of slavery directly addresses the condition of black bondage. To…
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Who Was the 1st Black Rhodes Scholar?
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 90: How did the shattering…