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The Root (magazine)

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The Root is an African American–oriented online magazine. It was launched on January 28, 2008, by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Donald E. Graham.[1]

The Root
Type of site
Online magazine
Available inEnglish
OwnerWatering Hole Media
Created byHenry Louis Gates Jr.
Donald E. Graham
EditorTatsha Robertson
URLtheroot.com
CommercialYes
LaunchedJanuary 28, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-01-28)

History

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The Root was launched on January 28, 2008 by The Washington Post Company (now Graham Holdings).[2][3] When its online subsidiary, The Slate Group, was created that June, The Root was placed under this new subsidiary. In 2015, Graham Holdings sold The Root to Univision Communications.[4] The site was subsequently re-launched under the Kinja platform used by other websites under Gizmodo Media Group (the former Gawker Media websites).[5]

In July 2017, the blog Very Smart Brothas, co-founded by Damon Young and Panama Jackson, became a vertical of The Root.[6]

In April 2019, The Root became part of the newly-created G/O Media, following the purchase of Gizmodo Media Group from Univision by Great Hill Partners.[7]

Danielle Belton was editor-in-chief at The Root between 2017 and 2021, when she was appointed editor of HuffPost.[8] On April 14, 2021, it was announced that Belton was succeeded by Vanessa De Luca as editor-in-chief.[9] De Luca in turn was succeeded by Tatsha Robertson on June 22, 2023.[10]

Since April 2021, The Root has seen substantial staff turnover, with 15 out of the 16 full-time staffers resigning following internal tensions, with former staff member Michael Harriot saying that, "as a staff, we came to the conclusion that, basically, The Root is over."[11] These departures were part of a wider conflict between G/O Media and its other outlets that saw staff also resigning across these outlets.

With the sale of Kotaku in July 2025, The Root stood as the last remaining outlet in the G/O Media portfolio, the company having individually sold all of its outlets since 2023.[12] Ashley Allison's company Watering Hole Media acquired The Root in October 2025; Allison is a Democratic political strategist and CNN commentator.[13]

The Root 100

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The Root 100 is the magazine's annual "list of the 100 most important black influencers between the ages of 25 and 45."[14] This list has been published since 2011, when it began ranking honorees using an influence score that resulted from a mathematical formula developed by scholar Omar Wasow.[15] Readers of The Root are allowed to nominate those who they feel are deserving of being on this list. The list has had a wide variety of people from celebrities such as Donald Glover, writers like Roxane Gay, and athletes. Other influential people in the black community who are not as well known, such as activists, are encouraged to be added to the list as well.[16]

References

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  1. ^ Pérez-Peña, Richard (January 28, 2008). "Washington Post Starts an Online Magazine for Blacks". The New York Times. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  2. ^ "Washington Post Starts an Online Magazine for Blacks (Published 2008)". January 28, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  3. ^ Ahrens, Frank (January 28, 2008). "Post Launches Site With African American Focus". ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved September 5, 2025.
  4. ^ Bond, Shannon (May 21, 2015). "Univision buys African-American news site The Root". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  5. ^ Belton, Danielle C. (January 12, 2017). "Please Allow Us to Re-introduce Ourselves". The Root. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  6. ^ "Gizmodo Media Group Announces Partnership With Very Smart Brothas". MSN. July 7, 2017.
  7. ^ Hayes, Dade (April 8, 2019). "Univision Finalizes Sale of Former Gawker Portfolio and the Onion to Private Equity Firm Great Hill Partners". Deadline. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  8. ^ Spangler, Todd (March 21, 2021). "BuzzFeed Appoints New HuffPost Editor in Chief, Danielle Belton of The Root". Variety. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  9. ^ "Vanessa De Luca Joins The Root as Editor-in-Chief". April 14, 2021. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  10. ^ "Tatsha Robertson named editor in chief of The Root". Editor & Publisher. June 22, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  11. ^ Hitt, Tarpley (January 27, 2022). "What Happened at The Root?". Gawker. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  12. ^ Robertson, Katie (July 2, 2025). "G/O Media Sells Kotaku as It Winds Down Operations". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 2, 2025.
  13. ^ Stelter, Brian (October 2, 2025). "The Root returns to Black ownership". CNN. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
  14. ^ "The Root 100: A Who's Who Of Black America". WAMU Tell Me More. NPR. October 26, 2013. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
  15. ^ Williams, Lauren (September 19, 2012). "Ranking The Root 100: Substance Matters". The Root. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  16. ^ "The Root 100: Tell Us Who Should Be on Our Annual List of Influential African Americans". The Root. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
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