When foreigners think of the country of Colombia, usually visions of drug-cartel bosses and Latin beauty queens with olive skin come to mind. Few foreigners know just how multicultural, and black, the country is. Colombia has the second-largest population of people of African descent in the Americas after Brazil—at least 5 million, according to the…

Two years ago, a simple Candomblé religious rite revealed to Heloisa Helena Costa Berto her future in Rio de Janeiro. When the mãe de santo (mother of the spirit) threw her cowrie shells onto a table, Berto saw a vision of her house through the formation of the shells. It didn’t look good. “I saw that…

Four years ago a petite, timid Gabby Douglas made her national media debut in front of hundreds of reporters at the Olympic Media Summit. At the time, she was unknown to everyone except gymnastics insiders, but that changed when, two months later, she captured the all-around gold medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games.  “Before,…

In 1965, Ebony magazine published a 10-page spread about Brazil with the headline, “Does Amalgamation Work in Brazil: Absorbing Negro Through Interracial Marriage Is Their Answer to the Race Problem.” The top image in the article showed a black woman walking hand in hand down the street with a white man. “Interracial couple walking hand…

For African-American tourists, Salvador is a city in Brazil where Brazilians maintain the strongest ties to Africa through music, food and religion. It’s Brazil’s blackest city. Eighty percent of the population is of African descent.  But for the Afro-Brazilians who live there, Salvador is a place where black men are constantly harassed by an intimidating…

When Gabrielle Fouché Williams left Brazil in January to return to the United States, she was four months pregnant with her first child. Williams had been living in Salvador, Brazil, for the last three years. The first few months of her pregnancy were difficult. Her doctor even put her on bed rest. But she expected…

Miles Marshall Lewis left America and moved to Paris after George W. Bush was elected president of the United States in 2001.  “I left the States partially because I felt like my protests [in the lead-up to] the Iraqi War weren’t being heard,” said Lewis, who is a music journalist. “I didn’t want to be…

In 2016, a lot of people are making New Year’s resolutions to get out more. How about getting way out? Like, out of the country! Here are The Root’s top five international spots you should hit up this year. Cuba: Unspoiled and Easier to Visit Danielle Horry, a travel consultant based in New York, visited…

They were lawyers, feminists, Christians, transgender women, domestic workers, militants, favela dwellers, politicians, students and many more. Despite their differences in beliefs, education and income, on Wednesday they came together behind the one thing they had in common: being a black woman in Brazil. On that day, more than 10,000 black women from all over…