African Hair before Bondage

"African Hair before Bondage" was a recent presentation from London Black History Walks as part of the Queen Nzingha Lecture Series.

The initial publicity was fascinating.  To quote, "Ever since African civilizations bloomed, hairstyles have been used to indicate a person's marital status, age, religion, ethnic identity, wealth, and rank within the community". Click here to read more. 

The presentation covered some of this material.  Hairstyles were such a key part of African people's identities that one of the first things the slavers did was to shave the heads of the enslaved, as a way of robbing them of those identities. 

"African Hair before Bondage" focused more on African hair during and post-bondage.  I would have liked to have heard more of the pre-bondage material.

For more amazing images of African traditional hairstyles, plus Black history and more, see:  African Images. 

Click here for more about how to celebrate beautiful, healthy Black hair and skin.

See also:  Hands Off My Child's Hair.