The Transgression of the Afro from a Political Symbol to a Fashion Statement. Advertising the Afro

Seminar paper from the year 2020 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne, language: English, abstract: This paper explores the role of hair in African American society and its relevance to the development of the Afro from a political symbol to a fashion statement. From the revolutionary spirit of the civil rights movement emerged a determination of the African American community not only to achieve social and economic equality, but also to liberate itself from the white ideal of beauty that reinforced the structures of white domination. Symbolic of this struggle, the Afro initially acted as a medium to express allegiance with the Black power movement and create a sense of unity among African Americans. Having spent centuries straightening and processing their hair in order to fit into expectations of white society, Black Americans began resorting to the natural look in the 1960s in celebration of their African heritage and in order to provoke and shock white supremacists. While the Afro did serve its purpose as an expression of intimidation and defiance at first, its popularity caused the hairstyle to become widely commercialized and thereby lose its original political significance.