University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Spring 2019 African American Hair and Beauty: Examining Afrocentricity and Identity Through the Reemergence and Expression of Natural Hair in the 21st Century Tiffany Nicole Peacock Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Peacock, T. N.(2019). African American Hair and Beauty: Examining Afrocentricity and Identity Through the Reemergence and Expression of Natural Hair in the 21st Century. (Master's thesis). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5252 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AFRICAN AMERICAN HAIR AND BEAUTY: EXAMINING AFROCENTRICITY AND IDENTITY THROUGH THE REEMERGENCE AND EXPRESSION OF NATURAL HAIR IN THE 21ST CENTURY by Tiffany Nicole Peacock Bachelor of Arts University of South Carolina, 2017 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2019 Accepted by: Kimberly Eison Simmons, Director of Thesis Carlina de la Cova, Reader Terrance Weik, Reader Drucilla Barker, Reader Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Tiffany Nicole Peacock, 2019 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION I want to dedicate my thesis to all the women who are individually and collectively challenging the prior notions for how African American women can wear their hair. To all the Black women who have ever felt that it was never good enough to be their true selves. To encouraging and furthering more research that acknowledges and analyzes how societal marginalization can affect the life outcomes of Black women socially, culturally, and economically from embodied characteristics. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The process of writing this Master Thesis was not easy and I am proud of being able to bring the work to completion. I would not have been able to finish this project without the support and guidance of key individuals within my corner. I want to first thank the Anthropology department at USC-Columbia for giving me the opportunity to pursue my research. I also want to give many thanks to all the faculty, staff, and graduate students who offered support and provided insight into how I could further approach my research. I especially want to thank Carlina de la Cova, Terrance Weik, and Drucilla Barker for serving on my thesis committee. I also want to thank Kimberly E. Simmons for working with me as my chair and inspiring me to do research on Black women’s experience. Through her own work and passion within the classroom and within her fieldwork, it encouraged me to pursue a topic that was personal and important in highlighting many ways that Black women in the diaspora can be marginalized. I want to thank my family and friends for always being there and cheering me on to continue pursuing my dreams. My mother for taking the time to sit and listen to me when I felt overwhelmed and unsure about making it through the master’s degree. I lastly want to thank my boyfriend Kevis, whom continually supported and motivated me when my endurance and belief in myself waned. He always encourages me to do what I love, no matter how difficult. Because of the support I was given, I want to say thank you to all who helped me through the writing process. iv ABSTRACT In the 21st century, African American women are challenging the stereotypes and limitations of who or what defines beauty. More African American women are cutting off their relaxed tresses and starting anew with the natural roots that was inherited from their African ancestors. The recent transition challenges post-colonial ideas of what it means to have good or bad hair through the empowerment of Black men and women. Rooted within the Black Power and Black is Beautiful movements of the 1970s, African American women are no longer accepting or tolerating how someone else will define their hair. By altering their kinky, coily, and curly texture for straighter hair styles, African American women were erasing markers of their African identities through chemically altering the hair texture or opting for styles mimicking the western standard of beauty. Altering the natural appearance of their hair textures was in response to discrimination towards African American women for wearing the natural appearance or maintenance of their kinky, curly, and textured hairstyles. With the reemergence of the Natural Hair Movement, Black women are embracing their identity and their natural hair texture’s appearance through the conceptualization of Afrocentricity. African American women are reclaiming and reemerging their African identity through the aesthetic expression of natural hair. This research will examine how African American women experience intersectional oppression while also analyzing how the reemergence of natural hair displays the foundation for a new social and cultural movement. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Abstract ................................................................................................................................v List of Figures .................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ..............………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter One: A Historical Background of the Natural Hair Movement ………………...21 Chapter Two: Literature Review …………………………………………………….......46 Chapter Three: Navigating the Field in South Carolina ................................……………65 Chapter Four: Analysis …………….….…………………………………………………88 Chapter Five: Discussion & Conclusion ...……………………………………………...129 Epilogue ...........................................................................................................................145 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................149 Appendix A: List of Participant #s ..................................................................................155 Appendix B: Summer Fieldwork Schedule .....................................................................156 Appendix C: Interview/Focus Group Questions ..............................................................157 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: “Say It Loud, Say It Proud” ....................................................... 20 Figure 2.1: “Angela Davis Afro” .................................................................. 32 Figure 3.1: “Curl Fest Main Stage” .............................................................. 87 Figure 3.2: “Curl Fest Entrance” .................................................................. 87 Figure 4.1: “Hair Typing Chart” ................................................................. 128 vii INTRODUCTION This thesis will examine the reemergence of natural hair in the Black community during the 21st century as a new sociocultural movement. The thesis will intend to understand how the expression of natural hair impacts prior notions about kinkier hair textures, while examining the historicity of Black hair politics in the United States. I intend to explore the connections of the first emergence of natural hair in the 1960s to the reemergence of natural hair in the present by contextualizing the origins and formation of the Natural Hair Movement. Discussing the current reemergence of natural hair as its own distinct movement, I will address how natural hair is reshaping the identity of Black womanhood and empowering Black women in the U.S. and across the African Diaspora. Background Since the 19th century, African American1 women in the U.S. are consistently pressured to assimilate to Eurocentric standards of beauty. Women are pressured to straighten their kinky, curly, or coily hair textures through chemical straightening, heating tools or adopting protective style. A protective style can include wigs, weaves, braids, or twists. Black women altered the natural appearance of their hair texture in response to discrimination towards African American women’s hair. The experienced discrimination stemmed from the appearance of their natural hair texture appearing 1 The two identifying categories of African American and Black will be used interchangeably throughout the thesis. African American and Black are both equally used as a racial identifier within the United States. However, within recent years, the racial identifier of Black can be used as an umbrella term for all African descendants across the African Diaspora and to align a shared identity of “global blackness”. African American can sometimes be used as an ethnic group identifier and a formal racial category within the U.S. 1 different from the accepted norm. Often called ugly, unruly, and “unprofessional”; African hair textures were viewed as another aspect or trait of African Americans which “needed to be tamed” (Riggs 1987). Seeking out acceptance from White Americans, African American women started altering their naturally “kinky2” textures to match the beauty standard of the 20th century. The