Two world wars, the Civil Rights movement, and a Jheri curl later, Blacks in America continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair. From the antebellum practice of shaving the head in an attempt to pass as a "free" person to the 2013 uproar over an Ohio school that banned Afro puffs, the issues surrounding Black hair continue to linger as we move through the 21stst century.
Tying the personal to the political and the popular, Hair Story takes a chronological look at the culture behind the ever-changing state of Black hair - from 15th-century Africa to the present-day United States. Hair Story is the book Black Americans can use as a benchmark for tracing a unique aspect of their history, and that people of any background will celebrate as the reference guide for understanding Black hair.