The Root 100
The Root 100
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Countdown to The Root 100: Before We Reveal the Full List and Who’s No. 1, Let’s Recognize the Top Honorees in Politics, Media and Community
This is it—the last preview before we reveal the full list and who is No. 1 for the 10th anniversary of The Root 100! For this special anniversary of The Root 100, we wanted to do something a little different this year by offering a sneak peek of the honorees before we announce the fully…
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Countdown to The Root 100: Here’s a Sneak Peek at the Top STEM and Business Honorees As We Get Ready to Reveal Who Is No. 1
As we continue our roll out for the 10th anniversary of The Root 100, we’re giving a sneak peek at the top three honorees in eight categories—arts, business, community, entertainment, media, politics, sports and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)—before we unveil the full list on Thursday. On Monday, we recognized the top honorees in…
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Countdown to The Root 100: Who's No. 1? Here's a Preview of the Top Honorees in Entertainment, Arts and Sports
A quick Google search reveals that gifts for 10-year anniversaries should be made of either tin or aluminum, a testament to the resilience and strength of a relationship. So it is fitting that as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Root 100—our annual list of the most influential African Americans, age 25 to 45—we…
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Perfect 10: It's Time for Nominations to The Root 100, Which Marks Its 10th Anniversary This Year, and We Are Psyched!
We here at The Root always look forward to The Root 100, our annual list celebrating the best and brightest in the fields of social justice, politics, entertainment, sports, media, the arts, science/technology and business. But we’re really looking forward to this year’s list with an extra level of anticipation. This year will mark the…
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The Root 100 Gala Takes the Cake, Yet Again, as the Best and Blackest Night of the Year
“We had a lot of competition in the beginning, a lot of imitators but they’ve fallen away. And The Root’s still here.” – Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root Co-founder text Every Root 100 gala is special, but this year was particularly momentous. Along with celebrating our 100 honorees, The Root also celebrated its 10th…
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The 2018 Root 100 Gala Celebrates Another Year of Black Excellence!
We celebrate black excellence every day here at The Root, but there’s one event where we celebrate the most influential black Americans of the year: our annual Root 100 gala. 2018’s list of luminaries, nominated in part by our faithful readers, span all walks of life: from activists to artists, singers to scientists, politicians to…
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Tarana Burke Tops The Root 100, Our Annual List of the Most Influential African Americans
Check out The Root 100, our annual celebration of black excellence.
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Beyoncé Will Forever Be Bey-ond. She’s So Fly, They Named a Fly After Her
What can be said about Queen Bey that hasn’t already been said, done, sung, texted, tweeted, explicated, unpacked, imagined? In an age when there are very few true superstars, she stands alone; one of a few black women, one of a few of her generation. Who else but a few aging rock stars is able…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Shonda Rhimes Changes the Face of Television Forever
The pop-cultural impact of Shonda Rhimes cannot be overstated, although at this point, it’s hard to imagine TV without her forceful, casually diverse, complicated and occasionally ruthless characters who fall outside of what was heretofore the “norm” (read: white, heterosexual male protagonists and their stories). In fact, one could argue that the writer, producer and…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Ta-Nehisi Coates Wanted to Be ‘the Baddest Motherfucking Writer on the Planet’
It is a rare piece of long-form journalism that breaks the internet. But that’s exactly what happened when Ta-Nehisi Coates’ keen, decisive reportage, “The Case for Reparations,” dropped in June 2014, compelling the editors at The Root to give him that year’s No. 1 spot. Part of his The Root 100 bio read: Two years…