Afro-textured hair

embracing my natural hair the positive comments on my hair has been overshadowed by the multitude of confused stares I receive from strangers in public, and the unfiltered conversations on the reason pertaining to my decision to be “Natural”. Those experiences launched my curiosity on the politics and history of Black Women and their natural hair in America. Instead of conceptualizing that Black Women are beginning a journey to true acceptance of self when embracing their natural hair, they are…

constantly shows and glamorizes the hair of other races outside of African Americans. The term “good hair” is often associated with straight, long and silky hair types. Instead African American women hair is associated with terms like thick, kinky and nappy. These aren’t just terms anymore that are used freely instead, they’ve become very stereotypical and judgmental to the black race. This puts pressure on African American women to feel doubtful of their natural hair, so much that black women…

Cocoa colored, kinky haired, and thick lipped: I was never fully portrayed as beautiful. If you had the dark skin tone, your hair had to be straight. If you had the kinky hair, your skin had to be lighter, for it to be beautiful. If you had the thick lips, they were either fake or you were a white model. If you had any of these qualities alone you qualified as beautiful, but if they were all together you were runner-up. Until I was in about in 4th grade I was never fully aware of this. As…

kinky hair with excessive heat or lye to chemically straighten it. Women wore their hair straight because it emulated the hair of white women and was considered the only acceptable way to wear their hair. It wasn’t until the 1960s women began embracing their natural curl again, at that time most natural women wore afros. Alas, the natural hair movement died down again and women chemically straightened their hair up until the mid-2000s. Around 2010, women revisited wearing their natural hair and…

Our culture dictates many parts of our lives, whether it be through conscious understanding or through subconscious ritual and belief. For some, their culture defines who they are fundamentally. Alice Walker, in her short story “Everyday Use”, uses the differing mindsets of two sisters to explore African-American culture in rural America. Also explored is how heritage, reflected in where and when one grows up, interacts and affects culture. Although Mama raised both sisters the same way, they…

“Black Is Beautiful”: Social Politics Surrounding the Afro Research Question: To what extent did the ‘Black-Is-Beautiful’ Movement of the 1960’s promote black expression and further debates regarding ‘natural hair’? Background In order to facilitate an understanding of the perspective of George S. Schuyler, the “skeptical Negro” who “debunks natural hair” and criticizes “Black is Beautiful” in the project’s main Special Collections source, it is first important to establish key information…

Introduction My interests in 1970s fashion lead me to interview my mother, Cynthia Cartwright (Cindy) who was a teenager during this period. The 1970s were a time of protesting and fighting for equal rights for women, African Americans, Native Americans, gays and lesbians. Nevertheless, the 1970s were also a time of media influences, like music, television, and magazines. Media was an influence that reached Cindy. An African American teenage girl from St. Louis, Missouri, with not many examples…

others. However, hair consistency is one and only, of the continuing obstacles on this journey to prompt an aesthetic that exemplifies all color, shape, size, and consistency. It is a topic apprehensive with government and passionate effects. Independence for the African American culture did the binary responsibility of capitalizing in two things to “repair” their Blackness, their otherness. Skin lightening…

that pleases the aesthetic sense. The history of African-American hair plays an influential role in what is viewed as “good hair” in society. ”Good hair” can be shown through the cultural history of the group itself, the history of resources available, and lastly how the hair is maintained as of today. The treatment of African-Americans beginning in the six-teenth century was horrific and played an enormous role in how their hair is viewed as of today. Spanish and Portuguese explor-ers…

Robert Haight’s poem, “Early October Snow,” has many feasible interpretations. One viable way to read the poem is in the literal sense. Therefore, in the literal sense this poem is about the speaker describing the beauty in a snowy October day. The speaker uses vibrant words to make this black and white picture become vibrant with colors. After carefully analyzing this poem, the focus of the poem has emphasized the value of time and has explained to cherish the time available. Furthermore, the…