Jim Crow
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Mississippi Gives Voters a Chance to End Racist Election Policy That Keeps Black Candidates From Winning Races
The state of Mississippi is close to 40 percent Black, making it the state with the second-largest proportional Black population in the U.S. Yet somehow, no Black person has ever been elected governor or to any other statewide political office in the state’s history. Mississippi voters are now being given the chance to do away…
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16th Street Baptist Church Bombing Survivor Requests an Apology and Compensation From the State of Alabama
One of the most tragic moments in Black American history happened in 1963 when a group of cowardly Ku Klux Klan members bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., killing four Black girls who were no older than 14. It was also one of the most galvanizing moments of the civil rights movement.…
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Lovecraft Country and the Horror Story of America
Welcome to Lovecraft Country…or um, you know…welcome to America for Black folks. Based on the Matt Ruff novel of the same name, Lovecraft Country follows Atticus “Tic” Freeman (Jonathan Majors) who takes a road trip from Chicago across 1950s Jim Crow America to find his missing father Montrose (Michael Kenneth Williams). His childhood friend Letitia,…
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No Peace Without Economic Justice
When Andre Perry thinks about American policing and incarceration, he sees an economic issue as much as a human rights one. “There’s no bigger wealth extractor than the criminal justice system,” Perry, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities told The…
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Mississippi to Vote on Changing Jim Crow Era Voting Law
Voting laws in this country are generally crafted to favor white people at the expense of everyone else. Whether it’s gerrymandering districts to the point where a court has to step in or closing down polling stations in predominantly Black areas, it’s sadly not uncommon to see the Black vote undermined. In Mississippi, voting rights…
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Rebels of Black History: How ‘Joy Goddess’ A’Lelia Walker Created Revolutionary Spaces for the Artistic and the Sensual
She helped artists and intellectuals be the fullest versions of themselves in a country that treated blackness and queerness as a crime.
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Diamond and Silk Are Still a Thing and They're Still Ruining Madam C.J. Walker's Good Work
God doesn’t make mistakes, but people do. And sometimes those mistakes look like black aunties, who, in 2020 the year of our Lord Megan Thee Stallion, have the sensibilities of house negroes on dope. Anyway, because, much like cold sores and dentist appointments, they just won’t go away, Diamond and Silk did something or said…
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![Disney+ Launched and Will Be a Vault of Nostalgia—Without Some of the Classic Racist Tropes [Updated]](https://assets-server.theroot.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/25195903/dl8ogewxbotedjppcfix-300x169.png)
Disney+ Launched and Will Be a Vault of Nostalgia—Without Some of the Classic Racist Tropes [Updated]
Anyone who grew up in the pre-streaming age remembers those super-effective Disney commercials that would air with a fair warning that a beloved film would be available for a limited time before being locked away in a “vault” for “years to come.” I watched those commercials and promo clips and practically ran my mama and…
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Virginia Strikes Down Jim Crow-Era Law Requiring Couples to Disclose Their Race on Marriage Applications
For nearly 100 years, the Commonwealth of Virginia has required all couples seeking a marriage license to disclose their race. On Friday, a federal judge found that requirement unconstitutional, writing that the rule “burdens their fundamental right to marry.” As the Richmond Times-Dispatch writes, Judge Rossie D. Alston ruled on a lawsuit brought forward by…