Team Members: Daria Mosley, Rawan Mahmoud, Mariah Williams
“When she told Ruth about the interview in Baltimore, Ruth said, ‘My only advice? Lose the braids and straighten your hair. Nobody says this kind of stuff but it matters. We want you to get that job.’ Aunty Uju had said something similar in the past, and she had laughed then. Now, she knew enough not to laugh. ‘Thank you,’ she said to Ruth” (Adichie 250).
“Hair. Ever notice makeover shows on TV, how the black woman has natural hair (coarse, coily, kinky, or curly) in the ugly “before” picture, and in the pretty “after” picture, somebody’s taken a hot piece of metal and singed her hair straight? (p 367).”
The altercation of hair used as an assimilation mechanism can be seen in the book Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Most of our inspiration comes from the scene where Ifemelu, straightens her natural hair for a job interview. When her boyfriend asks why she straightened it, she says, “My full and cool hair would work if I were interviewing to be a backup singer in a jazz band, but I need to look professional for this interview, and professional means straight is best, but if it’s going to be curly then it has to be the white kind of curly, loose curls or, at worst, spiral curls but never kinky. (Adichie 252)”. This scene among others shows how natural hair and texture is viewed in America’s society.
In the United States, Afro, Kinky, and Dread textured hair have been viewed negatively for decades. The Eurocentric standard, long straight hair has become America’s standard of beauty(“Beauty Is Pain” 1). Natural hair discrimination has been an issue for over 50 years. In 1981, a black woman employed by American Airlines was told her cornrows violated the company’s grooming policy (Kanigiri and Reidy 2). In 2017 the United States army updated the regulation 670-1 which authorized black men and women to wear dreadlocks, and twist on the job (Dirshe par.7). Cornrows are currently still prohibited hairstyle in the military. High-level managers in corporations advise that women should straighten their hair for an interview to have a better chance of getting a job. Americans equate straightened hair in the workplace with intelligence, hard worker, and socially acceptable (Kanigiri and Reidy 2). In a survey conducted by Essence, many black women in various professions stated that they feel comfortable wearing their natural hair to work. However many women also mentioned not having representation in the workplace causes them to confirm by putting their natural hair in an updo style (Dirshe par.11-18).
The medium we plan to use is a podcast. With a podcast, we will be able to have an open dialogue using the book Americanah, personal experience, and research to further the conversation on natural hair in America.
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah (Ala Notable Books for Adults) (p. 250-367). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
“Beauty Is Pain: Black Women’s Identity and Their Struggle with Embracing Their Natural Hair.” Perspectives (University of New Hampshire), Jan. 2017, pp. 1–13. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=127094192&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Dirshe, Siraad. “Black Women Speak Up About Their Struggles Wearing Natural Hair In the Workplace.” Essence, Essence, 7 Feb. 2018, www.essence.com/hair/black-women-natural-hair-discrimination-workplace/.
Meher Kanigiri, and Steven Reidy. “How Are Ethnic Hairstyles Really Viewed in the Workplace?” Cornell University ILR School, 2016, digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=student.
