The Root

The accompanying article, inspired by Liza Mundy's book of the same title, predicts that women will overtake men in a generation as financial breadwinners, with more American families will be supported by women instead of by men within 25 years.

On the day he had officially proclaimed United States Census Day 2010, President Barack Obama ticked off a box marked "Black, African American or Negro." Though the form provided space for him to write in the story we know so well by now--Kenya, Kansas, Hawaii, Hyde Park--he chose the simpler, less divisive route.

Goodluck Ebele Jonathan--the acting president of Nigeria--needs an introduction. After a political drama that makes President Barack Obama's scuffles with centrist senators seem boring by comparison, Jonathan has emerged on top. Nigeria's elected president, Umar Yar'Adua, fell ill. Then he disappeared to Saudi Arabia for two months. Soon, his wife, Tarai Yar'Adua, began stage managing on her husband's behalf, refusing to relinquish power.

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, passed an enormous, politically daring overhaul of the American health insurance and health care delivery system by a margin of 219-212. President Barack Obama, expected to sign the bill into law later this week, rejoiced with a high-five.

It's ironic that the first chairman of the Republican National Committee who descended from slaves might finally be ousted from power by a scandal known as "Bondage-Gate." And yet the incident, involving RNC expenditures at an S&M-themed nightclub in West Hollywood, puts Michael Steele--the first black head of the powerful conservative arm once run by George H.W. Bush and Lee Atwater--on the firing line once again.

In 2010, black politics is often written in male faces. Tomorrow, women may be the torchbearers of black political power.

When Ayanna Pressley decided to take a shot at a seat on the city council in her adopted hometown of Boston, Mass., she was committed to winning by any means necessary. This meant cashing in her 401(k) retirement plan—earned over 16 years as a Democratic operative in Boston and in Washington for Sen. John Kerry and other lawmakers. With a mother needing regular care, chasing a job that depended entirely on her willingness to, say, shake hands outside Fenway Park, her run was something of a gamble.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush held a closed-door meeting at the White House to discuss law and order after the race riots in Los Angeles. Bush and the other lawmakers in attendance received an unexpected visitor in Rep. Maxine Waters, then a freshman representative from South Central Los Angeles, who had invited herself into the deliberations.

Cantor versus Rangel. Boehner versus Biden. Getting health care done versus more of the same. The White House summit to debate health care reform is being characterized as a political cage match with the highest of stakes. But the meeting is also a story of Obama versus Obama.

The office of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson lies halfway between Congress and the White House. The placement is appropriate; the 48-year-old New Orleans native—the first African American to run the agency tasked with protecting the air, water and health of Americans—walks a line between action and negotiation every day. She keeps a copy of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax—the mythical creature who “speaks for the trees”—in her office, alongside photos of herself grinning with Gen. Colin Powell; her former boss, New Jersey Gov.