{ A SPECIAL TRIBUTE } } { BLACK WOMEN VOICES
I AMARE NOTENOUGH. MY HAIR YOU BY NICOLE HEROUX WILLIAMS I PHOTOS BY DR TUNYA GRIFFINBY NSP STUDIO
Alexis Arnold says, I Am Not My Hair | Alexis Arnold Shuts Down Hater Over Her Natural Hair! Chante Griffin writes, “Anti-black hair sentiment on U.S. soil has existed for centuries. In the 1700s, enslaved women who worked in the fields usually covered their hair in headrags due to the harsh demands of their work. Enslaved Africans who worked in the “big house,” however, sometimes mimicked the hairstyles of their enslavers, either by wearing wigs that had become popular during that era or shaping their kinky hair to emulate them. In cities like New Orleans, however, where free Creole women of color donned elaborate hairstyles that displayed their kinks and coils with an air of regality, the city implemented laws—the Tignon Laws—that required these women to wear a tignon (scarf or handkerchief ) over their hair to signify that they were members of the slave class, regardless of whether they were free or enslaved.” India.Arie sings, I am not my hair, I am not this skin I am not your ex-pec-tations no no I am not my hair, I am not this skin I am the soul that lives within Arie is pointing out the historical roots of why certain Black American 74
ROCHESTER WOMAN ONLINE : MARCH EDITION 2022
hairstyles are more acceptable and considered more beautiful than others. Today with tools like relaxers, hot combs, rollers, and many others, Black women can transform their hair to more closely resemble white hair. Standards of beauty in America are based on whiteness, so this is what is considered “good hair”. Let’s take a walk back down memory
lane Another writer added, “At the end of the 19th century saw the invention of the hair-straightening comb, which would be used to “tame” black hair. Madam C.J. Walker, a black woman, popularized the comb, and “by the mid-1920s, straight hair had become the preferred texture to signal middle class status.” As a result, Walker became the first female African American millionaire. Although some historians have lauded Walker’s business acumen, others have chided
her for perpetuating the idea that straight hair leads to social and economic advancement. For better or worse, she offered black women an avenue for increased societal acceptance in an era when minstrel songs mocked the hair texture of African Americans, “comparing it to wool and often describing it as nappy.” School Daze, one of my favorite movies by filmmaker Spike Lee, highlighted the issues black women have with their own hair School Daze, which was written, directed and stars Spike Lee, is one of the most important movies for people to watch. If you want to understand colorism and its affects on black people, in particular black women, then I would recommend watching School Daze. The lyrics, “Talkin bout good and bad hair, whether you’re dark or your fair “ Alexis Arnold is one black woman who is changing the hair game rules “My hair on my terms!” Rochester anchor and reporter Alexis Arnold just proved that a black women’s choice of hairstyle is nobody else’s business. When a natural hair shamer criticized Arnold for wearing her natural hair on air, leaving a voicemail telling her to “do a little something with your hair because it looks kind of rough.”
