The Washington Post launched a new online magazine with news and views geared toward African Americans called The Root. With Henry Louis Gates of Harvard (and African American Lives) at the helm, there’s a heavy emphasis on genealogy, with prominent links to Gates’ DNA testing company, although, before you’re directed to his site, they give you a few other DNA testing services.

According to the New York Times:

Several well-known authors and scholars have agreed to contribute to The Root, including Malcolm Gladwell and William Julius Wilson. The managing editor is Lynette Clemetson, who was until recently a reporter in Washington for the The New York Times and previously was a national and foreign correspondent for Newsweek…

Much of the news and commentary, Ms. Clemetson said, “will not have an explicitly black angle” but will address issues like health care and housing.

Today on The Root there are a variety of Obama stories as well as pieces on Kwame Kilpatrick’s text message scandal and the black-brown divide.