The Root

Madame Tussaud’s hasn’t always been on the mark when it comes to paying tribute to perhaps the most famous figure in music. When a figure of Beyoncé was unveiled in 2017, immediate backlash forced the famed wax emporium to “adjust” the poorly rendered likeness before ultimately opting to remove it altogether. It was…Read more...

Allow us to introduce you to Ryan Michelle Bathe.Read more...

Are you sick of me and my Advent calendars yet? Probably not if you’re reading this. If the Funko, LEGO, and sock calendars weren’t your thing, maybe you’ve been holding out for a beauty-related calendar. Well, you’re in luck! GLOSSYBOX just announced their Advent Calendar Box.

Each and every Friday, The Root sorts through the emails, tweets, direct messages and comments we received that week to find out exactly what is on our readers’ minds. Over the years, we discovered that the people who read The Root are mostly concerned with one thing:Read more...

The day many of us thought we’d never live to see has finally arrived.Read more...

It’s early September 2019. The store clerk just outside Amsterdam Centraal Station watches me blow a gust of warm breath into my palms and tells me the best parts of summer left one week ago.

I eat salads often now, because I have transitioned to a phase of my life where I’m expected to eat them often, and I don’t want to subvert those expectations. I’m so immersed in salad culture, so attuned to the salad zeitgeist, that my affinity for leafy greens lightly fondled by zesty liquids precedes me. When I…Read more...

They’ve been lauded by Elle Decor, launched a web series with HGTV, spoken at Harvard, published a book, designed homes for celebs, developed their own luxury home furnishings line, and are respected by some of the biggest names in interior design. Now, Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason, the husband-and-wife design team…Read more...

In the immortal words of Bill Duke in Menace II Society:

Harriet Washington’s searing 2007 tome, Medical Apartheid, not only outlined the pervasive use of medical experimentation on African Americans throughout history but circumscribed African American’s credible distrust of the medical establishment. In fact, a large part of why sadistic gynecologist J. Marion Sims’…Read more...

I recently saw a Billboard article that ranked every song on Janet Jackson’s fourth studio album, 1989’s Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (we’ll just call it Rhythm Nation from here on out)—though I’m sure most folks think it’s her second album after her landmark album, 1986’s Control—and thought to myself that I…Read more...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio officially ended his presidential campaign today, writing in an NBC News op-ed, “I have contributed all I can to this Democratic primary.”Read more...

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Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, born Daniel Hernandez, continues to prove tea was made to be spilled as his epic testimonies against his former associates Anthony “Harv” Ellison and Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack, alleged members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods, continued for the third day.Read more...

Teen activists from Johannesburg to Los Angeles are striking today to demand the world take action on climate change. Among the organizers is Isra Hirsi, co-founder of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike and daughter of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.Read more...

As some of the largest and most respected news outlets in America (unless you count Fox News, which is huge in Whitekanda) reported that alt-right and Neo-Nazi groups were celebrating Taylor Swift as the idealized Aryan Goddess, the unseasoned singer of hits I could probably Google if my computer browser didn’t have a…Read more...

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Ben Carson invoked tropes of “big, hairy men” invading women’s bathrooms in shelters and mourned a past when there were “just women and just men” in comments at least three staffers found to be transphobic.Read more...

Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and G.K. Butterfield (D.-N.C.), both former chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus, are throwing their political weight behind Joe Biden in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

One day, a black activist aligned with the Black Lives Matter movement was announcing his intent to run for City Council in Charlottesville, Va.—and the very next day, he was out. Apparently, for good.

Before she departed this earth, Harriet Tubman’s last words were, “I go to prepare a place for you.” When I hear such a powerful phrase, I can’t help but think of the concept of legacy.

Yesterday, The Root reported that Ed Buck, a prominent white Democratic donor, was being charged with battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug house—all felonies—after a third black man suffered a drug overdose in his home.Read more...

Pulsating beats. Undulating bodies. Scantily-clad swag under a spectrum of colorful lights. Is it a music video? A concert appearance? Rihanna’s recent text-filled (and highly controversial) trip to see Slave Play on Broadway?Read more...

The racial slur-spewing New Jersey high school wrestling referee who forced a black student to cut his dreadlocks has been suspended for at least two years after a civil rights investigation resulted in implicit bias training, a legal warning from the NJ Attorney General and a rule change for black athletes across the…Read more...

The protestors came out in droves at the California State Capitol, furious over new legislation that, if passed, would hack away at the remaining medical exemptions for vaccination in California. But their rage—one protestor reportedly threw a menstrual cup of what appeared to be blood at state legislators—wasn’t the…Read more...

Hey Buddy! Long-time, no see! How have you been?Read more...

After pledging allegiance to his lord and savior Donald Trump, Kanye West earned the eternal scorn of the black community and it’s been a bumpy ride ever since.Read more...

1. I could understand a Las Vegas residency for “A Night with Whitney.” What happens there, rightly stays there, so it makes sense. Yes, that’s a non-sequitur. But so is ‘Whitney was popular let’s make her a ghost and tour her.’ I’ve been to Vegas and seen things that I have not seen anywhere else, both commercially…Read more...

Instagram is entering a new era—hopefully, one that’ll be healthier for the self-images of users under 18.Read more...

God bless the child who’s got his own Billie Holiday biopic.Read more...

Over the past 12 hours, three separate images revealed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a penchant for wearing black and brownface from the time he was a teenager and well into adulthood.Read more...

C’mon, melanin! The crush of New York Fashion Week coincided with the latest batch of black girl magical covers headed to newsstands as fall arrives this weekend, so we’re just catching up on the hauteness of October’s covers, several of which star some of our favorite faces. Our consensus? Hot Girl Summer is clearly…Read more...

Disgraced rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, also known as cooperating witness Daniel Hernandez, has spent the last two days pointing fingers and telling on me and you, your momma, and your cousin too as he testifies against his former friends Anthony “Harv” Ellison and Aljermiah “Nuke” Mack, alleged members of the Nine Trey…Read more...

She may be retiring from music—or maybe (likely) not—but Nicki Minaj is still at work, giving first looks at a new collection with Fendi. She initially teased the collaboration in July, and now tells Elle that her fans “are going to be really surprised when they see that I did think of things for them. I totally know…Read more...

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We all read about it. A lot of us hoped it wasn’t true. They couldn’t have actually gone through with it, right?Read more...

Leo and LeeAnn Bienaime were like many first-time parents: apprehensive, unsure, and deferential to the advice of their doctors. But late last month, when the couple went to the hospital after LeeAnn reported feeling “intense” contractions, doctors told her to go home and come back later.

Watch your mouth! That was the word from the feds to Lynne Patton, former Trump event planner and now somehow an administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, over her making political comments while on the clock.

To paraphrase an LGBTQ activist catchphrase, “‘They’ are here, ‘they’ are queer and ‘they’ aren’t going anywhere” — at least when it comes to a new, nonbinary definition of the word “they,” as announced by the editors at Merriam-Webster.

With the nation’s renewed focus on whether or how to compensate black Americans for the evils of generations of chattel slavery in the U.S. and its systemically racist aftermath, some have questioned who should qualify for reparations should such reparative justice come to pass.Read more...

Donald Trump is a liar.

Excuse me. Everyone, I have a brief announcement to make. Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the devil, and the government is lying about 9/11. Thank you for your time and goodnight. —Huey FreemanRead more...

Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo! Get those fists in the air, dog pound, because Arsenio Hall is back!Read more...

The Trump Administration has made it its mission to ruin the lives of immigrants, and their latest ploy might be one of their most nefarious yet.Read more...

If you need an example of the level of danger Pittsburgh’s black population faces for just living in the city, drive down Centre Avenue, go through the Hill District and then North Oakland, and then stop once you find yourself in front of UPMC Shadyside. Park your car, get out, and survey the beautiful campus this…Read more...

Stormy days ruin a lot of outdoor activities, but now, wearing Allbirds isn’t one of them! The maker of the most comfortable wool shoe is revamping their original sneaker with the men’s and women’s Mizzle Collection, made to withstand misty drizzles (hence the name) and other wet weather that may have previously…Read more...

It’s Wu-Wednesday, folks!

It was mid-August, and just weeks into her new job as acting president/CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of American and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Alexis McGill Johnson was out front, defending the organization from attack.

Researchers have long discredited the link between video games and gun violence—more specifically, mass shootings. But not only is the narrative false, like many other facets of American life, it’s also touched by race.Read more...

The icon who brought drag mainstream is now giving us a bit of the magic to bring home. Twenty-five years after he launched the philanthropic Viva Glam collection with MAC, RuPaul is once again lending his glamour to a beauty brand; this time with friend and celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal.Read more...