The Root

On Friday, the Florida Department of Education announced in a press release that the state will reject more than 50 math textbooks from the curriculum for the next school year, citing references to critical race theory (CRT) as one of the reasons for the rejections.Read more...

In a letter obtained by ABC News, the NAACP is calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate years of alleged welfare fraud and misspending in Mississippi–totaling around $94 million. NAACP President Derrick Johnson stated the DOJ needs to investigate and prosecute those responsible “for the massive theft…Read more...

Updated as of 4/18/2022 as of 10:30 a.m. ETRead more...

It looks like the already stacked cast for the upcoming movie musical adaptation of The Color Purple has just added another talented star to its roster: Jon Batiste.Read more...

Boston University Professor Ibram X. Kendi called Republicans the “party of white supremacy” in a recent op-ed in The Atlantic. His essay described the ways in which Republicans have been “rebranding” themselves as the political party that supports parents when in reality their opposition to critical race theory…Read more...

Serena Williams is ready to tell more of her and Venus’ story. Despite the scandal surrounding star Will Smith, the tennis superstar is open to more movies chronicling the rise of her and big sister Venus. In an interview with Insider, the 23-time Grand Slam champion explained that she’s open to expanding the Williams…Read more...

Kay Slay, a Harlem graffiti artist-turned-DJ whose work transcended multiple generations of hip-hop culture while others of his era faded, succumbed to Covid-19 on Sunday, according to multiple news outlets. He was 55.

Following the Black Lives Matter movement and the calls for racial justice in the States, one UK teacher is aiming to decolonize her classroom lessons by infusing Black joy into the curriculum. Bristol, England based Tanisha Hicks-Beresford is a part of a cohort of teachers working to make education more inclusive.…Read more...

Not all presidential promises are kept, but VP Kamala Harris is proving to keep one in particular at the forefront of her White House initiatives. In December of last year, Harris hosted the very first Maternal Health Day of Action. It was then that she issued a call for change around maternal health for both parents…Read more...

Nineties era fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger is set to launch a new podcast on April 20th, highlighting the legacies and contributory threads Black people have woven into the greater fabric of American style and culture. “The Invisible Seam: Unsung Stories of Black Culture and Fashion” will be released as a limited five…Read more...

Justice was carried out in an Atlanta courtroom this Friday as the killer of Angela Simmons’ ex fiancé was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Sutton Tennyson. If you recall, Tennyson was fatally shot outside of his garage in 2018. Williams turned himself in just days later, and surrendered to charges of…Read more...

Artist Derrick Adams is bringing home a big bag to preserve the Black cultural legacy of the city of Baltimore with the help of a major grant. The Andrew W. Mellon foundation announced this week that Adams will be the recipient of 1.25 million dollars which will officially be awarded to the Black Baltimore Digital…Read more...

As ‘Abbott Elementary’ waves goodbye from its super praise parade float following its first season, the show goes out with one final monumental achievement. Quinta Brunson’s already highly acclaimed creation has just been given a 100% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. And if it’s been a while since you’ve been out of…Read more...

Though medical research, knowledge, and technology continue to advance year after year, there is still little known about the root cause of uterine fibroids—a.k.a. noncancerous growths that present themselves inside or outside of the uterus. What is clear, however, is the fact that those benign tumors…Read more...

The World Health Organization reported Africa is seeing their lowest levels of coronavirus cases and deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. According to the WHO Africa report, the continent has seen weekly cases drop for the past 16 weeks and deaths drop for the past eight. The last surge of cases was a result…Read more...

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Five young women at North Carolina’s Saint Augustine’s University are making history. They will compete as the first historically Black university women’s crew team, ever. “We are trailblazers. We are literally Black history,” sophomore Breanna Dorway said. “I’m just really excited for what’s in store for us.” Saint…Read more...

A Black man scheduled to be the first to be executed by the state of South Carolina in more than a decade has been given the choice of how he wants to meet his end, and he picked a firing squad.

If there’s one thing that’s made abundantly clear in Showtime’s The First Lady, it’s that these presidents would be completely lost without their wives.Read more...

Updated as of 4/15/2022 at 3:30 p.m. ETRead more...

No-knock warrants have become a national concern following the killing of Breonna Taylor and Amir Locke by police executing those types of warrants. Judges are the ones to sign off on no-knock warrant requests and rarely question the merit of them, according to an investigation by The Washington Post. Though the …Read more...

The celebration of Jackie Robinson continues! Today marks the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson becoming the first African American baseball player to play in Major League Baseball. The man is not only an example and legend in the sports world, but he was also an icon and leader in the world of social justice and…Read more...

Updated as of 1:40 p.m.ET: Amina Muaddi, Fenty shoe designer and close friend of Rihanna, has put out a statement vehemently denying that she played any part in the alleged breakup of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky.Read more...

I can talk for days about my favorite lipsticks and mascaras. But I recently realized that I’ve neglected our brothers when it comes to content that helps them care for their skin. That’s why I was so excited for the chance to talk to model, actor, and founder of Buttah Skin products, Dorion Renaud, to get his advice…Read more...

Lately, most stories that start in Florida and include Black folks don’t conclude happily. This story is a welcome exception.

Iyanna “Yaya” Mayweather, daughter of boxing champion Floyd Mayweather, pled guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the stabbing of Lapattra Jacobs, the mother of one of rapper Youngboy NBA’s children, per People. According to TMZ, Iyanna also has a child with him and is reportedly engaged to the…Read more...

A jury was quick to convict a Miami-Dade officer of felony battery and official misconduct for the rough arrest of a Black woman who called the police for help in March 2019, according to the Associated Press.Read more...

In response to criticisms following the arrest of Brooklyn subway shooter Frank James, Mayor Eric Adams further defended his new policies on policing and gun control on NY1. “I thought Black lives matter?,” he asked, alleging many of New York’s shooters and shooting victims are Black.

According to the Associated Press, the head of the World Health Organization critiqued the global community concerning the lack of concern and attention given to non-white countries such as Syria and Ethiopia as opposed to the response to the war in Ukraine.Read more...

Nearly nine months after Ed Buck was convicted of all nine charges in the overdose-related deaths of two Black men in his home, the political donor was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Thursday to 30 years in federal prison for injecting the two men with lethal doses of methamphetamine as a part of a fetish,…Read more...

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On their way to The Hague in Netherlands for the Invictus Games, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, stopped in London for a visit with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles, per The Times. While Harry previously returned for the funeral of his grandfather Prince Philip, this is Meghan’s…Read more...

There’s bad casting, there’s good casting, and there’s great casting.Read more...

The Black church has always been the cornerstone of the community. It was the place where civil rights leaders organized and where families found emotional and spiritual support. In Washington D.C., as the population of the neighborhoods around their churches change, Black pastors are finding it harder to hold on to…Read more...

On Monday, the Justice Department announced steps to regulate the flow of “ghost guns,” ranging from serial number requirements and background checks for buyers to executive actions. Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY) is looking to take this initiative one step further through Congress.

On Thursday, Cardi B. returned to the social media streets less than two weeks after the “Bodak Yellow” rapper deleted her official Instagram and Twitter accounts earlier this month.Read more...

A federal judge issued a ruling in a case over a political fundraising law in Georgia that will put Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and even some Republicans at a big disadvantage as they try to unseat Gov. Brian Kemp.

Cory Mills, a Republican candidate running for Florida’s 7th district primary, co-founded a company that sold tear gas used against Black Lives Matter demonstrators, reported POLITICO. (Reports also say the company sold rubber bullets to Hong Kong to crack down on their protestors as well.) The money Mills made…Read more...

I’m not surprised the RNC has withdrawn from its participation in the Commission on Presidential Debates, according to CNN. For a political party whose main point of contention is that their voices are actively being stifled, they sure are ready to retreat from using them in a neutral environment that doesn’t indulge…Read more...

It’s officially “Bad Bitch o’clock,” as Lizzo has announced the release date for her new album, Special.Read more...

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in professional sports in America and became the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball by signing with the then Brooklyn Dodgers. Almost 75 years later, his impact is still felt in American society because of the major sacrifices he made…Read more...

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Prairie County Sheriff Rick Hickman is claiming that he is not racist. In fact, he says his comment was not out of bounds after a recorded phone call caught him responding to news of a triple shooting and his negative comments about Black people who live in the area, according to KARK-TV.Read more...

When Oprah talks, people listen. So hopefully, her latest partnership with the Smithsonian Channel will get people to listen to the cries for better access to quality healthcare for people of color. On April 14, the network announced its Color of Care campaign, which is focused on equity in health care across racial…Read more...

Tiger Woods has a busy summer ahead of him, as he’s laid out the next steps in his golf comeback. Yesterday, Woods registered to potentially play in the U.S. Open tournament as well as a pro-am competition in Ireland later this summer.

Let’s be honest, the Wizarding World Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts franchise hasn’t always been the most diverse. However, in The Crimes of Grindelwald, we were introduced to William Nadylam as Yusuf Kama, a mysterious French-Senegalese wizard on a mission to avenge his family’s tragic past. The matter of his…Read more...

Teachers who are already overworked and underpaid now have to worry about the growing anti-Critical Race Theory movement and the impacts of its legislation in the classroom. Kim Morrison, an English teacher at Greenfield High School in Missouri, was fired after parents accused her of teaching Critical Race Theory, as…Read more...

It’s about to get percolatin’ in this dancery! Per a press release provided to The Root, Mary J. Blige will receive the Billboard Icon Award at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, taking place Sunday, May 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and airing live on NBC and Peacock at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.

There are so many great things about the ‘90s, but the hairstyles may be the exception. This list of classic ’90s hairstyles, many of them inspired by the hottest celebrities of the decade, is proof that some things are best left in the past. But mostly, it’s clear that what’s old often becomes new again. From…Read more...

There’s no better time than spring to add some greenery to your space. Plants not only make your home look great, they have so many other benefits, including improving the air you breathe, reducing stress and increasing your productivity. April 14 is National Gardening Day, making it a great time to start planting.Read more...