Black is Beautiful Movement
The phrase "Black is Beautiful" was originally said and promoted by John Sweat Rock in 1858 (Taylor). John Rock was a dentist, physician, and a lawyer that felt that the internalized racism being practiced among the African-American community needed to come to an educated end (Taylor). By educated end, I mean that he wanted African Americans (both men and women) to know that the shade of their skin and the texture of their hair was what made them an African American and that alone made them beautiful (Taylor). Rock recognized the image of beauty that was being projected to the African-American community was an unrealistic image that resulted in African Americans hating the features that identified them as an African-American (Taylor).
From Rock's first introduction of the phrase, it was initially presented as a nice slogan that African Americans can say either externally or internally until 1962 ("Black is Beautiful..."). In this year, Steven Biko shocked the world by expressing his thoughts about beauty within the Black community with Black Consciousness in South Africa ("Black is Beautiful...). Soon after the publishing of this book, the Black is Beautiful Movement catapulted ("Black is Beautiful..."). Decades before any type of social media, the Black is Beautiful Movement gained recognition as if it had a thousand retweets and a million likes.
From Rock's first introduction of the phrase, it was initially presented as a nice slogan that African Americans can say either externally or internally until 1962 ("Black is Beautiful..."). In this year, Steven Biko shocked the world by expressing his thoughts about beauty within the Black community with Black Consciousness in South Africa ("Black is Beautiful...). Soon after the publishing of this book, the Black is Beautiful Movement catapulted ("Black is Beautiful..."). Decades before any type of social media, the Black is Beautiful Movement gained recognition as if it had a thousand retweets and a million likes.
Fashion shows such as ones presented by The African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS) also helped to spread the word of how beautiful black really is. On January 28,1962, the their first fashion show was debuted at Harlem's Purple Manor. The team of models that were incorporated within the show was given the name of The Grandessa Models Naturally '62. By the subtitle of the night, the show not only was promoted by informing the community of black beauty, but also restored racial pride and standards ("Black is Beautiful...").
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