Madam CJ walker was born Sarah Breedlove on December 23, 1867 in Delta Louisiana. After experiencing severe hair loss she invented a line of products for African American hair in 1905. She traveled around the country to promote her line of products. She eventually establisehd a manufacturing laboratory and became one of the first American women to become a self made millionaire.
Duing that time period black hair was seen as "unattractive" and "undesireable" so people rellied on heavy chemicals and hot combs to fit into to the current beauty standard
Coming out of slavery and transitioning into American society was a rocky process for most African-Americans at the time. On top of the obvious social, political and economical challenges that they were facing, they also had to deal with the increasng pressure to conform to the mainstream beauty standards of Western society.
Exhibition producer Aaryn Lynch relates that "Black people felt compelled to smoothen their hair and texture to fit in easier, and to move in society better and in camouflage almost, " She later adds "black people had to go through really intensive methods to smooth their hair. Men and women would put their hair in a hot chemical mixture that would almost burn their scalp, so they could comb it back and make it look more European and silky." Fortunately there came a time when this was no longer the case for most black people.
Towards the late 1950's, the Civil Rights movemnt began to evolve into the Black power movement when Stokely Carmichael came to power as the new president of SNCC. This is when the black community began to adopt new values and transition from wanting to be accepted into the white society to wanting to become there own seperate community.
Hair was a big part of this transition. Rather than attempting to mimic their opressors the black community wanted to enforce the idea of natual black beauty. This is when the Afro became an incredibly powerful symbol of the black power movement. People started to embrace the fact that black is beautiful.
Want to know more about how the history of black hair continues to have an effect on the society as whole? What about the stereotypes of black hair commonly seen in the media? Watch the video below to learn more.