In a world in which long hair is equated to femininity and beauty, Tunzi challenged patriarchal prescriptions for what an ideal beautiful woman should look like. And that decision — among her many other qualifications and great performance — earned her the crown.
As part of a new revolution, South African women are making efforts to rewrite parts of our history in a way that is reflective, inclusive, and honest about the contributions the likes of Madikizela-Mandela have made during the struggle.
Get Out succeeds so magnificently because it tackles large and complex theoretical subjects in a creative and imaginative way.
At the crux of the debate over who has the right to say the N-word without consequence is the question of ownership. When Gina Rodriguez, or anybody outside of the black community, stakes a public claim over the word, and the culture it belongs to, they rightfully court pushback from that community.
On October 12, 2019, twenty-eight-year-old Atatiana Jefferson was shot by police officer Aaron Dean in her own home. Jefferson’s murder is yet another case of unwarranted, lethal violence perpetrated by a white police officer against a black civilian.
I used to think that kids who live in nice homes and attend good schools are not supposed to feel hopeless. I thought Black students like me were always supposed to be strong and overcome whatever we encountered the way our ancestors did.
15-year-old Tanyaradzwa “Tanya” Muzinda is a motocross champion. The Zimbabwean teenager began competing in the dangerous sport at five years old with the support of her father, a former biker himself.
Black Twitter is generally known as a space for responses to cultural events and light-hearted humor. But it is also a genuinely critical space for black intellectuals and influencers, providing them a unique platform to explore the nuances of black Americans' lived experiences.
As I've grown older, the author whose words I have most often remembered, that has rescued and offered solace to my friends and me is Toni Morrison.
Each week, Houston-based activist Diamond Stylz and her rotating cast of co-hosts serve up candid conversations about topics ranging from gender reveal parties to the latest installment of the television show Pose from a black, trans, and feminist perspective.
We talk a lot about sexism in entrepreneurship, but it’s important to recognize the intersection of race and gender privilege in the space as well.
Many assumed the famously red-headed Ariel would remain as such in the live action version, and Halle Bailey clearly does not fit that image. Shortly after Bailey was cast, #NotMyAriel started trending on Twitter.
DuVernay’s artful depiction of Linda Fairstein — prosecutor and head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office at the time of the Central Park Five case — exposes the process through which white women’s pain can be used as a pawn for white patriarchy.
Who gets to tell stories of black trauma and how and when should they tell them?
The six members of the Brazilian hip-hop group Quebrada Queer are young, black, queer, and from the impoverished outskirts of São Paulo — identities that are relatively rarely represented in Brazilian mainstream media, despite the fact that 54 percent of the country’s population is of African descent.
Since Sontag’s articulation of camp, however, camp has been elevated to a new cultural meaning and enactment, primarily by the LGBTQ community, and even more specifically by people of color in that community — a reality the Met Gala theme failed to acknowledge.
In 2019, of the 895 spots Stuyvesant High School gave to the incoming eighth-grade class, only seven were extended to black students. The year before, only 10 black students were given spots, and the class of 2021 included only 13.
Us not only imparts an eerie warning about the repercussions of idly living a life of privilege as people suffer beneath you, but takes the warning a step further by showing what can happen when the “outsiders” the privileged are so afraid of letting in, the people who have been pushed below and ignored, finally force their way in — and do so with a vengeance.
On February 20, Smollett was charged with his first felony, for filling out a false police report, and on March 8, he was indicted on 16 counts of making false statements to the police.
Nominations are a legitimate indication of who is worthy of not only cultural acknowledgment but a financial investment. This is why it’s crucial to pay attention not only to who is being recognized at the Academy Awards but also to who isn’t.
It’s not uncommon for Kenyan public schools to have a “no-hair” policy, meaning both girls and boys have to shave off their tresses, policies that are the legacy of colonialism and, as such, still perpetuate racism.
The next generation of feminists are being nurtured in Sierra Leone, and Moiyattu Banya-Keister, a Sierra Leonean educator and feminist, has created a safe space for this to happen: Girls Empowerment Sierra Leone (GESL).
In March 2019, the first private African satellite will be rocketed into space, thanks to a group of school girls based in Cape Town, South Africa.
South Africa’s entertainment industry has historically told monolithic narratives of black lives. While these narratives do reflect the reality of many black South Africans, they are not the only experiences of black South Africans and, moreover, not the only experiences black South Africans should be told are available to them.