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Check out this section for more interesting and informative
Q&As with authors, journalists, and others talking about
the American South, American Culture and Montgomery, Alabama.
Talking With...
Say You Want a Revolution: The Afro in African-American
Culture
David Person, editorial writer and columnist with The Huntsville
Times and producer of the radio documentary, The Afro: Personal
Reflections talks about the Afro, its origin and its cultural,
political and social significance.
Q: When did the afro emerge as a hairstyle?
The afro emerged as a hairstyle in the very late '50s. If
you talk to Mavis Staples (of the gospel group, the Staple
Singers), she would say that she saw [singer] Abbey Lincoln
wear the natural in the early 1960s. If you talk to Abbey
Lincoln, she would say that she saw [singer and activist]
Miriam Makeba wearing a natural in the late 1950s/early 1960s.
Q: You use the word "natural". Does it have the
same meaning as the word "afro"?
The words "afro" and "natural" are interchangeable.
Obviously the [word] "afro" is a lot more specific…It
alludes to something specific culturally and racially…power.
Some of the power of that word "afro "or the appeal
of that word is its power. It has a direct connection to a
hairstyle and black people that come from a particular perspective.
Q: From your earlier statement, can we assume that women
ushered in the afro hairstyle?
It was not unusual to see black man with hair in a natural
state. But because of social pressures, it was absolutely
unheard of to see a black woman wearing her hair in a natural
state. Conventional wisdom about what was attractive was defined
by white aesthetic values. It can be argued that blacks didn't
have aesthetic values - the 60s changed that... [It was] a
reclaiming for blacks of their own standard of beauty.
For everybody it was a socio-political statement. We were
rejecting the whole idea that in order to succeed we have
to conform -- social, political, culturally speaking.
Q: Did the popularity of the afro wane for a time?
Clearly, it did die out. Clearly, there was a point where
its appeal subsided as times became less politically charged.
People went on to the next thing. In the late 70s/early 80s
men started wearing fades - short hair.
Q: Has the afro make a comeback?
[There's] no doubt about its reemergence . Linda Jones of
a Nappy Hair Affair in Dallas, TX…sees the 60s afro "classic
jazz" and the new century afro as "jazz fusion"
-- more about style than substance. She considers that the
[60s] afro helped pave the way for black people to embrace
a variety of hairstyles...The afro helped break the strangle
hold that the obsession about white beauty standards had on
black people.
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