Tag: The Root

  • How the ‘Loving’ Case Changed the US The Root 2013-06-12 Kelli Goff, Special Correspondent The legacy of the interracial-marriage case looms large on the 46th anniversary of the landmark decision. Forty-six years ago, on June 12, 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that a Virginia law prohibiting Mildred Jeter Loving, who was black, and Richard Loving,…

  • ‘Plessy v. Ferguson’: Who Was Plessy? The Root 2013-06-10 Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor of History Harvard University 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: Learn about the man whose case led to decades of legal segregation. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 35: Who was the Plessy in the Plessy v. Ferguson…

  • Who Was the 1st Black Duke? The Root 2013-05-13 Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor of History Harvard University Porträt des Alessandro de Medici by Pontormo, 1534-1535 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: Meet the scion of a legendary Italian dynasty. Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of…

  • I Found One Drop: Can I Be Black Now? The Root 2013-05-01 Jenée Desmond-Harris Race Manners: Time for a racial gut check. Has your African-American ancestor really changed anything? “I recently availed myself of my university’s online resources and did some genealogical digging about my white conservative family. It turns out that one of our…

  • ‘Mixed Kids Are the Cutest’ Isn’t Cute? The Root 2013-04-08 Jenée Desmond-Harris, Staff Writer “I’m a Caucasian woman with a biracial child (her father is black). I live in a predominantly white community. Why is it that whenever people discover that I have a ‘mixed’ child, they always say things like, ‘Oh, he/she must be…

  • Why Are We Hung Up on Our Mixed Roots? The Root 2012-03-06 Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., Editor At-Large The latest controversy in Beyoncé Knowles news may be her breast-feeding Blue Ivy in public, but I’m still shaking my head about the recent fuss over her True Match commercial for L’Oréal, which highlights the singer’s mixed-race…

  • Obama and the Elusive Idea of Race The Root 2011-04-26 Mary C. Curtis Scientists increasingly conclude that ethnicity cannot be defined scientifically, but that hasn’t stopped the racists, the Birthers and the confused from casting their insecurities onto the president. It’s not surprising to get involved in a heated discussion about race when you’re strolling…

  • Exactly How ‘Black’ Is Black America? The Root 2013-02-11 Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research Harvard University 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro: Find out the percentage of African ancestry in black Americans. (The Root) — 100 Amazing…

  • Is There Colorism on the Campaign Trail? The Root 2012-12-13 Keli Goff, Political Correspondent Experts weighed in on when skin tone matters in politics and society. (The Root) — The latest installment of CNN’s docuseries Black in America asked the question “Who Is Black in America?” and examined the issue of colorism: bias based not…

  • 1st Black President Wins a 2nd Term The Root 2012-11-07 Keli Goff, Political Correspondent Here’s who gave it to President Obama, and what he might do with it. (The Root) — Four years after making history by becoming the first black president elected in the United States, Barack Obama has been elected to a second…