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The Root’s Black Bucket List

You don’t need to travel the world to find yourself. There’s a treasure trove of black history and culture right here in the U.S. The Root explores the places you’ve got to see in your lifetime.
teresa.wiltz

You don’t need to travel the world to find yourself. There’s a treasure trove of black history and culture right here in the U.S. The Root explores the places you’ve got to see in your lifetime.
You don’t need to travel the world to find yourself. There’s a treasure trove of black history and culture right here in the U.S. The Root explores the places you’ve got to see in your lifetime.

Years ago the late, great James Baldwin, the ultimate black expat, said this of his travels: “I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself.” He wasn’t being glib. Travel is the great expander, obliterating borders, changing perceptions, both of the outside world — and of the self.

You don’t, of course, have to live in a garret in Paris or make a pilgrimage to Senegal’s Gorée Island in order to encounter yourself. Some of the most eye-opening travel can happen within these 50 states. There are untapped resources rich in black history and culture right here, both known and unknown treasures that will make you rethink your heritage, your history, yourself.

A while ago, we asked for your feedback on the must-see spots for black travelers exploring the U.S. You’ll find some of those spots highlighted over the next few months, as well as a few of our favorites. We’re calling it the Black Bucket List, The Root’s guide to the can’t-miss spots around the nation, from the Gullah-Geechee enclaves in South Carolina to stops along the Underground Railroad to the colonial stomping grounds of black New Yorkers.

Black History Month 2010

Three Teachers Mock Black History Month with Rodman, RuPaul and O.J. Black History Month has truly come to a close…and with what three white male teachers would call a “bang.” The school, which is 90% latino, was putting on a Black History Month parade where the children would carry pictures of famous African Americans. Well the bang those teachers were trying to make was in the form of Dennis Rodman (basketball player gone wild), RuPaul (drag queen of all drag queens), and O.J. Simpson (football player done lost his damn mind…acquitted of murdering his wife and her friend, yet still manages to land in jail for armed robbery). It appears that the teachers little jokey joke blew up in their faces. But, the only explosion was their jobs going up in flames. According to the Associated Press, the teachers have been removed from the classroom. But if the NAACP’s Los Angeles chapter president, Leon Jenkins, has anything to say about it, they will be fired. It all happened Friday at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School in South Los Angeles. One of the parents, Sharon Tinson, told AP she was shocked to see O.J., but she “just laughed.” She has two daughters that attend the school. She also said, “Simpson, like Rodman, was a great athlete before falling from grace. RuPaul simply has an alternative lifestyle, she added.