Tiffany M. Gill - Beauty Shop Politics: African American Womens Activism in the Beauty Industry

Beauty Shop Politics

Series Editors
Anne Firor Scott
Susan Armitage
Susan K. Cahn
Deborah Gray White

A list of books in the series
appears at the end of this book.

African American Womens Activism
in the Beauty Industry

Publication of this book is supported by a University
Cooperative Society Subvention Grant awarded by the
University of Texas at Austin.

COVER ART: Beautician Vera Pigee discusses voter registration with a client in Mississippi, 1964. Photograph by Charles Moore.
Used with permission from Black Star.

2010 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 C P 9 8 7 6 5
This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gill, Tiffany M.
Beauty shop politics : African American womens activism in the beauty industry / Tiffany M. Gill.
p. cm. (Women in American history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9780252035050 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 9780252076961 (paper : alk. paper)
1. African American women political activistsHistory20th century. 2. Beauty culturePolitical aspectsUnited StatesHistory20th century. 3. Beauty cultureEconomic aspectsUnited StatesHistory20th century. 4. African American beauty operatorsPolitical activityHistory20th century. 5. BusinesswomenUnited StatesPolitical activityHistory20th century. 6. African American business enterprisesHistory20th century. 7. African AmericansEconomic conditions20th century. 8. African AmericansPolitics and government20th century. 9. African AmericansCivil rightsHistory20th century. 10. United StatesRace relationsHistory20th century.
I. Title.
E185.86.G494 2010
646.7'2092dc22 2009020148

So many have supported me over the years to ensure what first started out as a thought became a seminar paper, then a dissertation, and eventually a book. The words that follow are my humble attempt to express my deepest gratitude.

The seeds of this project and indeed my career as an academic were planted while I was an undergraduate at Georgetown University. I am forever grateful for the mentorship and intervention of Dr. Kim Hall who recognized within me the makings of a scholar while I was still determined to be a lawyer. At Rutgers University I was part of a caring and intellectually engaging community of learners and thinkers. The masterful insights of my advisor, Deborah Gray White, into African American womens history and the historical profession have been invaluable. I would also like to thank Nancy Hewitt for being such a great dissertation committee member and continual champion of my work. This book began as a seminar paper in David Levering Lewiss Seminar in African American History, and I am grateful for his provocative insights in the early stages of this project. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the generosity of Clement Alexander Price, Distinguished Service Professor at Rutgers-Newark, who not only guided my scholarly work but also demonstrated in work and in deed the highest ideals of the academic profession. Finally, my graduate student colleagues at Rutgers have remained dear friends and a continued source of support and scholarly wisdom. I especially wish to thank William Jelani Cobb, Justin Hart, Daniel Katz, Peter Lau, Kelena Reid Maxwell, Khalil Muhammad, Amrita Chakrabarti Myers, Aminah Pilgrim, and Stephanie Sims Wright for being amazing thinkers and even better friends.

As a faculty member, I have found the University of Texas at Austin to be a supportive environment in which to thrive intellectually. Colleagues in the Department of History, most notably Toyin Falola, Laurie Green, Frank Guridy, Martin Summers, Alan Tully, Ann Twinam, and Juliet E. K. Walker, have been especially helpful with this project. In addition, my courtesy appointments with the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies (under the directorships of Edmund T. Gordon and Omi Oshun Olomo) and the Center for Womens and Gender Studies (under the directorship of Gretchen Ritter) have connected me to an even wider cadre of scholars and resources. A faculty fellowship from the Humanities Institute provided a much needed course release and stimulating conversation, and I am especially grateful to have received funding and a semester off in the form of a Deans Fellowship from the College of Liberal Arts.

I have also been amazed at just how much those outside of my home institutions have invested in this project. The American Association of University Women Postdoctoral Fellowship provided financial assistance during the 20056 academic year, while fellow panelists and commentators at the Business History Conference, the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History, the Berkshire Conference, and the Southern Historical Association offered great suggestions and critiques. Librarians and archivists often went well beyond the call of duty while helping me with this project, especially Wilma Gibb at the Indiana Historical Society, Michael Flug and Beverly Cook at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Branch of the Chicago Public Library, and Kenneth Chandler at the National Archives for Black Womens History. The knowledge, generosity, and enthusiasm of Georgia Robins Sadler, Associate Director of Community Outreach at the University of CaliforniaSan Diego Moores Cancer Center made the books final chapter possible. Finally, the University of Illinois Press has been a great place for me to publish my first book. Many thanks to Laurie Matheson for her wisdom and patience and for getting my manuscript into the hands of two careful and insightful readers, Susan Cahn and Lynn Hudson.

In many ways, my greatest debt of gratitude is for those I knew long before I began this book and who will love and support me long after. First, to my family, especially my mom, Helen Gill, my sister, Dorothy Gill, and my nieces and nephews, thank you for being my biggest cheerleaders and reminding me of what is truly important in life. Research trips were always more enjoyable when I knew that I would get to laugh and play with you after a long day in the archives. To my dear friends, Monique Schlichtman and Karen Traylor, you are the smartest women I know; thank you for allowing me to vent when the process seemed too overwhelming and for reminding me to take time to celebrate. Following Jesus Christ while living the life of the mind is often a difficult journey and I am forever indebted to the prayers and support of my various spiritual communities in New York City and Austin. Dear friends at Times Square Church, Promiseland Church, the University of Texas Christian Faculty Network, and Hope in the City Church provided a respite from the sometimes harsh realities of academia.

Heavenly Father, I look forward to the next milestone of faith we will conquer together.

In 1957, when Bernice Robinson, a forty-one-year-old Charleston beautician, was asked to become the first teacher for the Highlander Folk Schools Citizenship Education Program in the South Carolina Sea Islands, she was surprised for she had neither experience as a teacher nor a college education. This did not present a problem for Myles Horton, founder of the Highlander Folk School; his main concern was that the Sea Islanders would have a teacher they could trust and who would respect them. In fact, for Horton, Robinsons profession was an asset. In his autobiography, he explained the strategic importance of using beauticians as leaders in civil rights initiatives by declaring that we needed to build around black people who could stand up against white opposition, so black beauticians were very important.