Viola Davis (Los Angeles Times Magazine)

Viola Davis: Natural in Los Angeles Times spread: Everyone's buzzing about The Help star's style — including, but not limited to, a close-cropped natural look — in the images in this recent photo shoot. Clutch magazine says she was "channeling her inner supermodel." 

Brown student finds lost Malcolm X speech: The audiotape of Malcolm X's 1961 address in Providence, R.I., might never have surfaced at all if 22-year-old Brown University student Malcolm Burnley hadn't stumbled across a reference to it in an old student newspaper.

Little Known Black History Facts stirs controversy and laughs: The writer of this razor-sharp comedy site about the black experience gets lots of praise, as well as lots of hate mail, ColorLines reports.

U.S. shutters Embassy in Syria: Citing the "shadow of instability" that has fallen on Syria, U.S. officials announced Monday morning that they have closed the American Embassy there and that Ambassador Robert Ford and the rest of the embassy's staff have left the country. Read more at Slate.   

Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.