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Watch: Atlanta’s Brian Tyree Henry’s Emmy Mixtape
The first black actor Brian Tyree Henry saw on television was Jasmine Guy, in A Different World. Henry was absolutely enamored. Decades later, the idea that Henry might be the first black actor some children are seeing on television means the world to him. “Representation is really key, because I don’t think I’d be anywhere near…
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Watch: The Making of Auntie Maxine
Some might say that Maxine Waters’ career in politics was a prophecy. In high school, Waters was named most likely to be the speaker of the House of Representatives. The rest is history. Politically, she got her start in 1976 with the California Assembly. There, she led a seven-year fight for legislation that would remove…
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Watch: Climate Gentrification in Little Haiti
Climate change affects the world in more ways than one. For residents of Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood, rising sea levels could bring on a new kind of gentrification. As developers begin to invest in properties on higher ground to avoid flooding, historically black neighborhoods could suffer the consequences of rising sea levels as current residents…
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Everything Is Bigger in Texas, so of Course The Root’s Young, Fabulous and Female Event Slayed in Dallas
The Root’s Young, Fabulous and Female event has traveled all over the United States, hitting cities like Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Chicago and now, Dallas. Everything truly is bigger in Texas because the beautiful black women showed up and showed out. The Young, Fabulous and Female event is presented by Toyota (#ToyotaCHR)…
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Maybe Now Isn’t the Time, Guys
If you’re tempted to point out that you’re one of the good ones right now … please don’t. If you are upset that people of color are upset that their lives and beliefs are under assault by a resurgent, resilient, citronella-candle-filled white supremacist movement, empowered by a White House that can’t call a racist a…
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Watch: Is Double Dutch a Traditionally Black Sport?
In 1974 and over the next 10 years after that, the American Double Dutch League hosted citywide competitions at New York City’s esteemed Lincoln Center. Two New York City police detectives—double Dutch founder David A. Walker and Ulysses Williams—helped to create the competition for purposes bigger than winning golden trophies; it was a space for…
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Watch: 13-Year-Old AileyCamp Student Is Moved by the Love of Dance
Christian Herrera started dancing when he was 4 years old. He said he knew that he would be a dancer when he did his first split at his grandmother’s house. Now, at age 13, Christian is a second-year student at AileyCamp, a summer enrichment program for dancers that focuses on personal development, with 10 national…
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The Dark Tower: Mediocre Marksmanship and Magical Negroes
The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption and The Shining are a trio of renowned Stephen King titles turned to film. And they are also leading exhibits for the Stephen King “Magical Negro theory,” the idea that a lone black character is at the behest of white characters and protagonists by whom he’s surrounded. This black…
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On Whole Foods, Gentrification and the Erasure of Black Harlem
Bye-bye, black Harlem, glad I knew ye. Hello, Whole Foods, I do enjoy your products, but if you can gentrify greens, what chance do we really have? I first moved to Harlem in 1998. I was a young single mother in graduate school with a 2-year-old. Harlem offered me respite, refuge and safety in blackness…