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Type of site | Online magazine |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Watering Hole Media |
| Created by | Henry Louis Gates Jr. Donald E. Graham |
| Editor | Tatsha Robertson |
| URL | theroot |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | January 28, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-01-28) |
The Root is anAfrican American–orientedonline magazine. It was launched on January 28, 2008, byHenry Louis Gates Jr. andDonald E. Graham.[1]
The Root was launched on January 28, 2008, byHenry Louis Gates Jr. andDonald E. Graham, under the ownership of The Washington Post Company (nowGraham 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 soldThe Root toUnivision Communications.[4] The site was subsequently re-launched under theKinja platform used by other websites underGizmodo Media Group (the formerGawker Media websites).[5]
In July 2017, the blog Very Smart Brothas, co-founded byDamon Young and Panama Jackson, becamea vertical ofThe Root.[6]
In April 2019,The Root became part of the newly-createdG/O Media, following the purchase of Gizmodo Media Group from Univision by Great Hill Partners.[7]
Danielle Belton was editor-in-chief atThe Root between 2017 and 2021, when she was appointed editor ofHuffPost.[8] On April 14, 2021, it was announced that Belton was succeeded byVanessa 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 ofKotaku 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 acquiredThe Root in October 2025; Allison is a Democratic political strategist andCNN commentator.[13]
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 scholarOmar Wasow.[15] Readers ofThe 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 asDonald Glover, writers likeRoxane 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]
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 | This online magazine–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. See tips for writing articles about magazines. Further suggestions might be found on the article'stalk page. |