Posts Tagged ‘African American culture’
Today’s post is brought to you by the letter H … and H stands for HAIR!
Thanks to the good folks at Sesame Street a generation of children around the world have learned their numbers and alphabet from singing puppets. Now the educational program has tackled a more hairy issue. They have released a video depicting a brown, Sesame Street puppet singing a song about loving her hair. Throughout the video, she sports an afro, cornrows, twists.
The video has gone viral and many, as mirrored in Grady’s Treehugger article, are happy to finally see depictions of black girls accepting and embracing their hair in the mainstream media. She notes the harmful effects of the harsh chemicals typically used in black hair care as reason enough to move towards an embrace of “natural hair”.
The documentary by comedian Chris Rock Good Hair addresses problems for blacks who embrace the natural hair look. In the current cultural climate natural hair still isn’t seen as professional, causing a barrier in job interviews and the like.
Many are happy to see an infectious song promoting this positive message. However, some questions have been raised.
Some viewers seemed upset that this message had to be delivered by a puppet rather than other popular mainstream black idols.
Clearly it will take time for acceptance of “natural hair” both in the black community and the wider American culture. Though some may have some criticism of the video, we think if the film gets kids and adults discussing the issue… it can’t be a bad thing.
What do you think?
Today, the Hip Hop movement has had a huge impact on worldwide youth culture.
But back in 1920s New York, another cultural phenomenon had a similarly large impact on our nation’s culture.
It was called the Harlem Renaissance and it was an exciting time of literary, artistic, musical, and cultural happenings. We have found some cool clips that show a few notable developments of that movement.
The clip above is extremely fun to watch and depicts the Lindy Hop dance craze. The clip comes from the 1941 film Hellzapoppin’.
A few venues in the region served as major cultural centers and helped artists like Billie Holiday, featured in the above clip with Louis Armstrong, find their way to a larger audience. …read more.
