Tag: The Root

  • Halle Berry and the Resurgence of the Tragic Mulatto The Root 2011-02-22 Clay Cane The furor caused by Berry’s assertion that her daughter is black reminds us how confused Americans remain about race. Halle Berry’s recent comments in Ebony magazine have brought up the complex subject of racial identity, which still seems to confuse many…

  • Michelle’s Great-Great-Great-Granddaddy—and Yours The Root 2009-10-08 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 First Lady Michelle Obama’s maternal third-great-grandfather was a white man who fathered Melvinia Shields’ (her maternal third great-grandmother) son, Dolphus T. Shields, both slaves.…

  • Browner America: Marcia Alesan Dawkins says an increase in nonwhite births doesn’t mean more social justice.

  • The Biggest Lie About Race? That It’s Real The Root 2011-07-26 Jenée Desmond-Harris, Contributing Editor Dorothy Roberts says race is a social and political construct, and she won’t rest until we know it. There’s a reason we’ll never come to a consensus on the most accurate racial classifications for Barack Obama or Tiger Woods. There’s…

  • Black, Red and Proud: An Interview with Radmilla Cody The Root 2011-02-22 Cynthia Gordy Radmilla Cody’s crowning as Miss Navajo Nation in 1997 triggered an outcry and a conversation about what it means to be Native American. Now she’s featured in a museum exhibit showing the rarely told history of African-Native Americans. In a 1920…

  • Reverse Passing? Kidding… Right? The Root 2010-12-14 Jenée Desmond-Harris A report that biracial people are denying their white parents seems absurd to me—but I’m paying attention anyway. Ever heard of Barack Obama? You know, the first black president? The one who won an election and near-deity status in the African-American community while openly discussing his…

  • Why Biracial Means Black: The History of Race in America Means Most Blacks Are Biracial to Some Degree The Root 2010-12-14 Lauren Williams, Associate Editor Checking a census box that says “black” doesn’t mean you’re denying your white ancestry. It’s just how we roll in America. When Halle Berry scored her milestone Oscar win in…

  • Passing for Black?  Biracial Americans Are Increasingly ‘Passing for Black’ The Root 2010-12-14 Thomas Chatterton Williams A new study posits that black-white biracial adults are increasingly choosing, like President Obama, to emphasize their blackness. But in this country, “black” has always been a mongrel affair. It created a minor media frenzy last spring when President Barack…

  • For different reasons, this same identity question has also had some traction with people of color, many of whom worry that Obama will usher in what Danzy Senna calls the “mulatto millennium,” especially if it implies that, as some of Obama’s supporters chanted earlier this year, “race doesn’t matter.”…