From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black is beautiful is a cultural movement in the United States of America beginning in the 1960s that aims to dispel the widespread notion that black people's natural features such as skin color, facial features and hair are inherently "ugly."^[1] John Sweat Rock was the first to coin the famous phrase "Black is Beautiful." The movement asked that men and women stop straightening their hair and attempting to lighten or bleach their skin^[2]. The prevailing idea in American culture was that black features were less attractive or desirable than white features. The idea that blackness was ugly was highly damaging to the psyche of African Americans, manifesting itself as internalized racism.^[3] This idea even existed in black communities^[4] and led to practices such as paper bag parties.

The movement is largely responsible for the popularity of the Afro. Most importantly, it gave a generation of African Americans the courage to feel good about who they are and how they look.

Even now the movement has not fully taken hold. According to figures compiled by the Essence market research team, African Americans spend 25 percent more of their disposable income on personal care products than the general population.^[5] Natural hair styles are still considered "somewhat rebellious" or "unkempt" in parts of the United States.

• Racial transformation
• Natural hair
• Cornrows
• Dreadlocks
• John Rock
• Blackness
• Jewcy
• Cool (aesthetic)

1. ^ Some notes on the BLACK CULTURAL MOVEMENT
2. ^ Jamaica Says Black Is Beautiful
3. ^ Key Issues in Postcolonial Feminism: A Western Perspective by Chris Weedon, Cardiff University

   In her novel The Bluest Eye (1981), Toni Morrison depicts the effects of the legacy of 19th century racism for poor black people in the United States. The novel tells of how the daughter of a poor black family, Pecola Breedlove, internalizes white standards of beauty to the point where she goes mad. Her fervent wish for blue eyes comes to stand for her wish to escape the poor, unloving, racist environment in which she lives.

4. ^ "Black is Beautiful" and the Color Preferences of Afro-American Youth - Claud Anderson, Rue L. Cromwell The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Winter, 1977), pp. 76-88 doi:10.2307/2966874
5. ^ Embracing `BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL' - African American involvement in fashion industry, and consumer spending on apparel and beauty care products - Statistical Data Included Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 4, 2001 by Kendra Hamilton

This African American-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.