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Watch: Michelle Wilson, a Black Woman Who Owns the Narrative on a Broadway Stage
A black woman owning the narrative on a Broadway stage is an act of power. As an actress, Michelle Wilson commands the stage. She is the co-lead of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat, by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, which focuses on racial realities and economic tough times. For her performance, Wilson has been…
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Watch: It Comes at Night Cast Names America’s Apocalyptic Disease
There’s a new thriller in town! Jordan Peele’s instant classic, Get Out, set the tone for a new type of thriller and proved that there’s nothing better than a fresh perspective on making people squirm in their seats. It Comes at Night has accomplished that feat, too! This new thriller, which opens June 9 and…
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Watch: Angela Bassett Fights for Her Sweetheart
Legendary actress Angela Bassett hopes to raise awareness of the connection between Type 2 diabetes and heart disease with her campaign For Your Sweetheart. Her mother, Betty Jane Bassett, was diabetic and passed away from heart disease in 2014. Since then, Angela Bassett has been working steadily to raise awareness. Heart disease is the most…
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Watch: Female Artists Take Their Fight Against Bigotry on the Road
Three women of color—Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Jessica Sabogal and Melinda James—traveled from Los Angeles to Albuquerque, N.M., to fight what in America is becoming the new normal. And they are using their art to fight back. From May 23 to June 5, the women took a road trip, stopping specifically in small towns to make murals…
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Watch: Meet the Sculptor Whose Work Immortalizes Biggie
What’s nearly 100 pounds and made out of 7,000 sheets of paper? If you guessed a sculpture of one of the greatest rappers of all time, you’d be correct. Let’s talk about the Notorious B.I.G. Influenced by Biggie’s music, Cuban-American artist Felix Semper created a sculpture of the legendary rapper, which took him three months…
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The Jheri Curl Turns 40: A Look at the Most Iconic, Insulted and Revered Hair Craze Ever
The last time I saw someone wear a Jheri curl with a straight face was in the summer of 2015. In June of that year, retired NBA point guard Baron Davis appeared on ESPN’s First Take sporting a high-and-tight take on the activator swirl. His was in the big-Luther tradition of being “not quite right”;…
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Watch: Judge of Characters, The Root’s New Digital Show About the Best (and Messiest) of Black Twitter
At this point, we know the power of black Twitter. We set trends, we get folks fired and we are side-crampingly hilarious. So we figured, why don’t we dig into the black Twitter crates each week and serve up the best and messiest 140 characters we can find? Bonus: These tweets are usually about the…
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Watch: 3 Myths About Gun Violence
Gun violence is the leading cause of death for black men and boys ages 15 to 34 in the United States. Community activists have been organizing against gun violence for decades, and there is still so much to be done. But there are a lot of misconceptions about how gun violence really affects black communities…
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Watch: Star of Broadway’s Aladdin Keeps Getting His Wishes Granted With New Roles in Hamilton
James Monroe Iglehart won the Tony in 2014 for his role as the Genie in Broadway’s Aladdin. Earlier this year, he moved on to join the cast of Hamilton, where he plays both the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson, roles that earned original cast member Daveed Diggs both a Tony and a Grammy. Iglehart…
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The Carmichael Show Is Back, and Jerrod Carmichael Says It Will Continue Confronting Black Conversations You Don’t See on TV
The Carmichael Show is easily one of the best black shows on television right now. It stars its namesake and creator, Jerrod Carmichael, as a son, brother and fiance who is not only opinionated but often finds himself in the crossfire of the even stronger opinions of his family. In the first two seasons, we…