The Chi is the type of TV show Chicago deserves. If you leave it to the media, the limited picture that’s painted of Chicago turns anyone who’s never been there away from ever coming to Chi-town because of the seemingly limitless examples of violence that plague the city.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins was recognized on The Root 100 this year for his work changing narratives through the theatrical arts. In 2016, Jacobs-Jenkins was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant, and his play Gloria was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for drama.

The Root 100 honoree Michael Bennett is not only an NFL star as a Seattle Seahawks defensive end but also an activist, author and philanthropist. Here’s why sports does not define him and why he refuses to stay in his lane. Watch the video above.

The Root 100 honoree Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter of the Roots shares why he believes art should represent the times we live in.

On Sunday The Root 100 gala aired on Fusion TV. Hosted by The Root 100 honoree Angela Rye and A.J. Calloway, the gala—which took place Nov. 9 in New York City—featured other honorees such as Franchesca Ramsey, Yamiche Alcindor and S. Lee Merritt, along with special guests Common, Rapsody and many others.

The Root 100 honoree Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the youngest mayor in Jackson, Miss., history, talks about how he plans to bring about change in the above video.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) was honored with The Root 100 Gladiator Award for Public Service on Nov. 9 at The Root 100 gala.

The Root 100 gala co-host A.J. Calloway breaks down why Barack and Michelle Obama are the epitome of black excellence.

Raquel Willis was recognized on The Root 100 this year for her unapologetic voice and dedicated work to elevate the transgender community. Watch above for her personal story about how hiding her true identity while working as a journalist in Monroe, Ga., shaped her advocacy.

“I was being Taylor Swift and you just Kanye’d me,” Angela Rye said, scolding her The Root 100 gala co-host, Extra’s A.J. Calloway. Only someone as strong-willed as Rye could use “Kanye” as a verb. But what else do you do when you’re having your shining moment and A.J. Calloway comes up, attempting to take that shine?

The Root 100 celebrates the best, brightest and most brilliant forms of black excellence across every field you can think of: entertainment, activism, the arts, sports, media, politics, business, and science and technology. Every year we put out the list of amazing and influential black people, and every year we…

It’s. About. To. Go. Down.

Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson knows polling data isn’t in his favor and that he’s running against a well-established incumbent mayor in Marty Walsh. But Jackson is confident that the pulse on the streets is giving him a more accurate feel of Tuesday’s outcome: That he will be elected Boston’s first black mayor.

GirlTrek, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of black women and girls, is gearing up to celebrate the life of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer on Friday, the 100th anniversary of Hamer’s birth.

I thought it couldn’t get any better than Sterling K. Brown winning an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama for This Is Us. But it did! The head makeup artist on This Is Us, Zoe Hay, and head hairstylist Michael Reitz decided to gift the world with a snapshot of Brown proudly holding his new Emmy with his shirt…

When we launched The Root 100 in 2009, it was the perfect time to celebrate black excellence. The arrival of the country’s first black president was an occasion to champion the achievements of today’s African-Americans heroes—achievements that could exist only in our ancestors’ wildest dreams.

What can be said about Queen Bey that hasn’t already been said, done, sung, texted, tweeted, explicated, unpacked, imagined? In an age when there are very few true superstars, she stands alone; one of a few black women, one of a few of her generation.

The pop-cultural impact of Shonda Rhimes cannot be overstated, although at this point, it’s hard to imagine TV without her forceful, casually diverse, complicated and occasionally ruthless characters who fall outside of what was heretofore the “norm” (read: white, heterosexual male protagonists and their stories).

Benjamin Todd Jealous first made a national name for himself in 2008 when, at age 35, he became the youngest leader of one of America’s oldest and most esteemed civil rights bodies, the NAACP.

The indomitable Melissa Harris-Perry, once the voice of the weekends through her two-hour show on MSNBC—at once ritual before brunch or church or work and a much-needed respite from the unceasing whiteness of political punditry—gave us #Nerdland, that delicious slice of TV that wasn’t white-centered, wasn’t…