BEAUTY SHOP POLITICS

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Question one

Before the period of antebellum, there was no recognition of the African women businesses according to Gill. However, with the introduction of this type of activity as the Gilded Age of Black Business, there was a very great change and shift in the manner in which the black women carried out their businesses. It was a time of change as African American women and black American women realized their role in creating a living for themselves and therefore they engaged very much in the beauty industry. The beauty industry at this point was not just meant for the sake of making sure that the women were beautiful and that their hair was perfect but it also meant that they wanted to engage in political debate and it was through the salons that they could be able to fully engage into this.

Therefore the black women salons became not just places of beauty but gathering places whereby beauty was provided and there were political as well as economical debates and how to make their lives better. During the antebellum south period, women were not recognized as any important people and therefore they were looked down upon. This was even worse for the black women who were considered the lowest individuals in the society since they were women and they were from the race which was considered weak and minor. However, the rise of the beauty industry in the 1900s acted to prove this point wrong that black women were not good enough to do what it is that was needed to be done by any other white women. The change and the drift were very big and it is to be appreciated since it was a positive one.

Question 2

The black women’s hair industry gave birth to the great contribution of black women towards the political field at this time. The relationship between the black beauty industry and the black women’s club movement remains very important and very significant in that the black beauty industry acted as a hatching ground for the black women’s club and therefore the desire and the wish for black women to bring a quality change to the society at that specific time.

The unity of the black women at this point was something to be embraced as they all shared a common goal and agenda that they were all businesswomen. The women’s business club comprised of beauticians, seamstresses, nurses among other black women and they were a big force towards getting more women to join the movement. They gave speeches during events and conferences and urged more women to join them for the sake of making sure that the role of women was recognized by the world. The walker hair culturists union can be termed as a very concrete example during this time which was advancement towards the political activism of the black women towards their goals and their activities. Therefore these women were a very important part of the national beauty culturists league (NBCL), which later came to be a very big movement of black women united together for one common goal.

Question three

The great depression affected most of the people within the American society; however, it did not affect the black women beauty industry as expected. This is because the women-owned everything within this industry and the production, as well as the consumption, was solely based on the black women. This, therefore, meant that the black women never got a chance to suffer as other businesses which had been established suffered. Not only were they not affected during the great depression even during the cold war the black beauty industry was not affected. In the black industry consumption and production were solely based on the black women and therefore they had autonomy over their business, freedom that most of the other businesses never enjoyed and therefore they used this opportunity for their benefit.

The black beauty industry was a monopoly and therefore as it is normal for monopolies not to feel the sting of such cases like the great depression it was the same for the black beauty industry which continued to thrive. However other black-owned businesses like grocery stores and clothing stores had a difficult time as their businesses fell to the level of the white man’s businesses. Therefore the great depression affected the black businesses for everyone who was operating outside the beauty industry while those who were within the beauty industry thrived and everything worked out for them. This was a phenomenal experience since these businesses at the time of the great depression were a very bis source of support and they produced very good quality services, products, and other organizations as they can be said to have been the breeding places for business ideas and political ideas as well.

Question four

Mallory is seen as one of the women who were of great significance during the 1950s and 1960s when it comes to black women’s activism during this time. She was born in 1927 and her role and place in the society were actively known and she was a very determined member of the black community of women who wanted to see change happen within the society. Even though during this time there was no proper establishment of the beauty industry of the blacks those who were present did a very good act of making sure that the black women were heard and that their voices were considered as important and that they were important in the society. It was during this time when the black power movement and black women were part of it as they tried to bridge the gap in the society between whites and blacks.

Another individual who was very important during this time apart from Mallory was Robert F. Williams. She was a champion of the rights of black women rights. The black beauty industry also played a very big role in making sure that the ideas about changing the society and bridging the gap that existed between the whites and the blacks were done in the right manner and at the right time. They fully understood that sometimes force had to be used and therefore even though advocating for peaceful ways of bridging the gap they still understood it was a difficult part of their will and desire to bring in peace and therefore they tried to do everything they can for the realization of black women as important in the running and operation of the country’s activities.

Question five

The American beautician movement shifted to healthy ways of activism through the coining of the civil rights movement which happened in 1966 and from this point there was a lot of advocacy for doing activism in the right manner. All the time the black people were very much important in the running of almost every little part of these kinds of activism since it meant a lot to them because of their segregation in the society by the white men which was happening from time to time. Tiffany Gill acknowledges that it was a difficult time however since activism does not have the right way to do and since the beginning of something is never perfect the black people especially the women and the beauticians did not feel bad about anything they did since it was all aimed at making sure that they lives were better.

However, the kind of activism which was taking place during the 1960s and 1970s was better and it was what led to more changes that were positive towards the individuals and the institutions within the American society. This was a very important time for change to be realized as the black women got fully involved and the ideas which were birthed during their beauty sessions were very important in making sure that they advanced in what they wanted. Therefore it was a very important time for the black women to see new ways of doing things and incorporate their great creativity and wisdom into bringing out the best in the activism.