Title: Stylin'
First published: 1998
Description: For over two centuries, in the North as well as the South, both within their own community and in the public arena, African Americans have presented their bodies in culturally distinctive ways. Shane White and Graham White consider the deeper significance of the ways in which African Americans have dressed, walked, danced, arranged their hair, and communicated in silent gestures. They ask what elaborate hair styles, bright colors, bandanas, long watch chains, and zoot suits, for example, have really meant, and discuss style itself as an expression of deep-seated cultural imperatives. Their wide-ranging exploration of black style from its African origins to the 1940s reveals a culture that differed from that of the dominant racial group in ways that were often subtle and elusive. A wealth of black-and-white illustrations show the range of African American experience in America, emanating from all parts of the country, from cities and farms, from slave plantations, and Chicago beauty contests. White and White argue that the politics of black style is, in fact, the politics of metaphor, always ambiguous because it is always indirect. To tease out these ambiguities, they examine extensive sources, including advertisements for runaway slaves, interviews recorded with surviving ex-slaves in the 1930s, autobiographies, travelers' accounts, photographs, paintings, prints, newspapers, and images drawn from popular culture, such as the stereotypes of Jim Crow and Zip Coon.
Subjects: History, African Americans, Social life and customs, Body image, Hairstyles, Clothing, Black studies, Costume, History of specific racial & ethnic groups, 20th century, c 1700 to c 1800, c 1800 to c 1900, Black American Sociology, Manners And Customs, United States, Social Science, Ethnic Issues, People of Color, Multicultural Nonfiction, USA, Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General, Noirs américains, Mœurs et coutumes, Image du corps, Populaire cultuur, Schwarze, Coiffures (Cheveux), Kultur, Kleidung, Negers, Histoire, Geschichte Anfänge-1940, Körpersprache, Lichaamscultuur, African americans, social life and customs, Hairdressing of blacks, African americans, history
Places: United States
LC classification: E185.86 .W4388 1998