Jim Crow
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Hell or High Water: How Racism Kept Black America From Swimming
Now, we’ve all heard the stereotype that black folks can’t swim. But, unfortunately, that cliché is based in haunting truths. The numbers speak for themselves: 64 percent of black kids have no or low swimming ability, versus 45 percent of Latinx children and 40 percent of white kids. A 2014 study also found that black…
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Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen on What Has Changed Since the Civil Rights Movement and Jim Crow
In the new film Green Book, Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen play a black musical genius and the hard-nosed Italian he hires to drive him through the Jim Crow south on a concert tour. The Root recently sat down with both actors to get their take on the ways in which not much has changed…
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J. Kenneth Lee, Who Was Among the 1st Black Students to Attend UNC at Chapel Hill, Dead at 94
J. Kenneth Lee, one of four black students who joined a lawsuit that would ultimately lead to the desegregation of the University of North Carolina School of Law and who became one of the first black students to attend UNC at Chapel Hill, has passed away at the age of 94. Lee passed away last…
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Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters Return, More Relevant Than Ever
Respect your elders. I don’t know a child who wasn’t raised with that admonition, which in my household was often accompanied by a swat on the butt or a swift side-eye when due respect wasn’t paid. But it’s generally far later in life when most of us learn the value of also listening to our…
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Why Black People Are Always Bringing Up Old Stuff, Explained
Hey, bruh, I’m back again for our weekly explainer. I thought we might talk about Black History Month this time. Sure! I always enjoy our talks. In 1915, black Harvard historian Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History with minister Jesse Moorland. So … Because haters gonna hate,…
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Recy Taylor, Catalyst for Anti-Rape Activism in the Jim Crow South, Dead at 97
Recy Taylor, whose story of sexual assault at the hands of six white men in 1944 is featured in the book At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—A New History of the Civil Rights Movement From Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power, died at a nursing home in…
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Trump Election Commission Member Suggests Jim Crow Laws Worked Better
I wish that headline contained hyperbole. I wish it were made up. It is not. The man President Donald Trump has placed in charge of “election integrity” recently lauded the laws from the Jim Crow era designed to keep blacks from voting. Before you scream, “What the fuck!” allow me to clearly explain. See ……