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Read a transcript of the president’s speech in its entirety here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Keli Goff is The Root’s special correspondent. Follow her on Twitter.  On Saturday Nov. 9, 2013, Ytiyish “Titi” Aynaw will make history as the first woman of African descent to represent Israel in the Miss Universe pageant. Aynaw, who is of Ethiopian Jewish ancestry, is the first black woman to hold the Miss Israel title. She…

They say all is fair in love and politics—well, that’s not the exact phrase, but the emergence of New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, on the political scene, sheds light on the beauty of the human heart to find its true counterpart, regardless of race or political affiliation. The…

George W. Bush did. So did Bill Clinton. So why would President Barack Obama be immune? Yes, we’re talking about the rapid-aging reality of being president of the United States and how Bush, Clinton and now Obama all went from dark-haired to gray during their two terms in office. President Obama has shifted from his…

Read President Barack Obama’s speech in its entirety here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

We’ve seen episodes of our favorite black sitcoms over and over. Cable networks play them ad nauseam, to the point where we’ve seen some of our favorite episodes dozens of time. But now The Root is going to put you to the test. See how many quotes you can match to your favorite shows. Just…

Mississippi was at the heart of the civil rights movement, and now the state is building two museums to highlight its role in one of the country’s most turbulent periods. The Civil Rights Museum will be housed inside the Museum of Mississippi History, and both are scheduled to open in 2017. The groundbreaking ceremony for…

In 1995, Waiting to Exhale was an instant hit, opening at No. 1 at the box office over the Christmas weekend. Hollywood execs might have been surprised by the movie’s runaway success, but we weren’t. How could it not be a hit? It was a chick flick with a cast of talented black actresses, the…

Teresa Wiltz is senior staff writer at Stateline, the journalism outlet of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Yes, we should all probably spend a little more time unplugging from the matrix. But who doesn’t love a good gadget? For starters, they make life easier. For those who care about that sort of thing, there’s cachet in…