Ayana Byrd - Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America

This could not have happened without the support and love of our families and friends, who are too numerous to list by name but who each individually contributed in their own special, much-needed ways. A special thanks to the Tharps, Price-Williams, Byrd, Malia-Camacho, Winston-Porter-Pope, and Baldwin-Taylor families.

The inspiration for Hair Story began in a Belgian beauty salon and in a living room in Morocco. The idea was developed in two separate projects at Barnard College and Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism. Much sincere thanks and appreciation to those professors who encouraged us to take the next stepHelen Benedict, Lynn Chancer, Natalie Kampen, and Les Lessinger.

Special thanks to Dave Bry and the Vibe Research Department for bringing us together and to our diner in Brooklyn Heights for nourishing us (literally) as we took the first slow, faltering steps of putting thoughts to paper; Marie Brown, the most laid-back literary agent, who not only sold us on the idea that we could do this but then convinced the rest of the world. To Glenda Howard and the people at St. Martins Press, who have shared our excitement and enthusiasm and helped fine-tune the vision behind this book.

It took about one week of writing to realize that this would only be possible with the assistance of others. Wed especially like to thank Ernest Montgomery, photo editor extraordinaire, for being both brilliant and cost-effective; Samuel R. Byrd for his artistic genius and speed; Asali Solomon for catching all of our most obvious mistakes and making us sound literate; Dana King, our amazing researcher, for her contributions, suggestions, and belief in our project; Miko McGinty for all your design directives and creative eye; Manuel Malia for his eagle-eye copyediting and constructive criticism; Gael Levin, Karen R. Good, and Christian Bernard for their computers and friendly encouragement; Tesha McCord for her legal advice; to Alfonso Smith for the photos; April Garrett for her bottomless Rolodex; Andrew Gillings for the access code; Kofi Taha for, as always, stepping in and saving the day; Godwin Mensah for technical support and a glimpse into Ghana; Fallon Scoggins and Mia Herndon; all of the women and men who shared their hair stories, providing us with many of the anecdotes in the book; to the friendly security guard at Entertainment Weekly who kept us safe after hours.

Thanks to the Solomon familyRochell and James for giving up a Sunday football game to recount their hair stories and Akiba for photo-documenting the outrageousness of her eighties hair; ALelia Bundles for always cheerfully providing the answers to our endless barrage of questions; Nat The Bush Doctor Mathis for sharing his life with us over a Chinese dinner and for proving to the world that Black hair is worth immortalizing; Carolivia Herron, bell hooks, Dr. Cheryl Ajirotutu, Harriette Cole, Lloyd Boston, Geri Duncan Jones and the AHBAI, Bernice Calvin, Marcia Gillespie, and Glynn Jackson for their insights into the world of Black hair culture; the Indiana Historical Society and New Yorks Schomburg Research Library; Willie Morrow for just being himself; the supportive staffs of Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, and Rolling Stone magazines; Dawn Baskerville at InStyle; MOET (Men of Ego Trip); Santi White for always understanding that sometimes this book needed to come first; and Shanita (just because).

Inspiration from the spirits and lifes work of Madam C. J. Walker and Annie Turnbo Malone; Assatta Shakur and Angela Davis; and Lisa Jones, who first brought the hair beat to the masses. And to Florence Price, whose outrageous statements and no-holds-barred opinions of what hair should look like have been a constant inspiration and an almost constant cross to bear.