SITE TOOLS
|
|
|
Tenderheaded: A Comb-Bending Collection of Hair Stories
Edited by Juliette Harris and Pamela Johnson
Review by Carla Robinson
Tenderheaded is a colorful hodgepodge of hair-related prose, poetry, history,
illustrations and photographs. It’s both a great beach read and an excellent starting
point for serious study. Editors Juliette Harris and Pamela Johnson have assembled an
impressive stable of contributors including A’Lelia Bundles, Angela Davis, Ruby Dee,
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., bell hooks, Lisa Jones and Black hair care pioneer, Willie Morrow.
Boasting new works alongside classics like Alice Walker’s revelatory Spelman College
address, “Oppressed Hair puts a Ceiling on the Brain,” Tenderheaded offers every
possible perspective on Black hair, and, by extension, the Black experience in America.
|
|
To Buy
Click Here
|
|
| |
Tenderheaded offers a journey that’s
well worth the price of the ticket. At every port, something new is brought to our vision.
In Susan L. Taylor’s “My Bold Black Statement,” she takes a sentimental
look back on the summer of 1970, when she shaved her head in admiration of the Masai women
of Kenya. Embracing a new standard of beauty served to end years of hiding her “high
forehead” behind bangs. As anyone who’s ever read Essence Magazine knows, its
most famous Editor-In-Chief was never to hide behind anything again. A picture accompanies
Taylor’s essay. It’s a beautiful Black woman in profile, her head shaved, her
loveliness accented by large hoop earrings. One would never guess that it’s Taylor
herself, after all these years of associating her with her signature cornrows. It’s
mesmerizing to see her smooth hot buttered soul. It’s treats like this that make
Tenderheaded one for the collection. M
May 2001 |
|
|
|
|
RLP Ventures, LLC and/or its
suppliers. All rights reserved.