A true queen fixing her crown

Like Powell, I am also an African American woman who is finally stepping into the real world and is expected to survive just like everyone else. For the first time I am experiencing real life situations and with my prior knowledge expected to overcome and succeed in this game called life. When I do wear my naturally kinky hair out I constantly get the stares from people who wear their judgment on their face and it always bothered me. I want to bring light to this issue because no one or workplace should ever tell me my natural coils are not deemed as professional or untamed. People need to be more educated on this issue whether it directly affects them or not and my goal from this spatial analysis is to do just that.

My space that I observed was outside of Highland Bakery in Downtown Atlanta which is located next to 25 Park Place, GSU’s advisement office and is across the street from Woodruff Park. Nearby is Helen M. Aderhold Learning Center which is surrounded by many food places as well as GSU’s School of Law. To observe a space, you must also observe the people in that space and in this space, to me, was the perfect place to conduct my observations. Details are critical for readers to get a general synopsis of the purpose of the writing piece. 

Art is valuable- don’t touch my art.

My purpose of writing about this societal issue is to shine light on a problem that is not always even considered a problem because it is not affecting a majority. 

A girl walks by with chocolate melanin skin and thick fluffy hair that she put in a puff. Her hair bounced in each stride that she took. She was carrying a purse on her shoulder, wearing dress pants and a buttoned dress shirt. She was dressed as if she was on her way to a business class and conducted herself as so. She held her head high while she walked, like a model. Confidence. A feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities. One look at this young lady and she radiated confidence. But why?  Maybe it was her professional clothing, or the way she held her head with every stride or maybe just maybe it is her afro kinky hair that was put into a puff that sat perfectly in the air. 

One girl with rich brown skin caught my eye; she was about 5’6 and had a fairly long blonde wig with a short grey dress on, a large metal bullhorn nose ring and topped of her look with a look of distress. With one glance million things would run into your head. However, maybe there’s a significant reasoning behind this appearance that many would not ever get the chance to discover or explore. Maybe just maybe she dressed like this to distract others from her issues that she was insecure with herself or simply had issues that just have not been solved because maybe she was not ready to talk about them or has not even faced the fact that she may have an issue. One look at her and you see a platinum blonde wig and a metal bullnose ring and miss the kindness in her eyes that is screaming someone look at me and ask me if I am okay. Maybe she wants someone to notice her for her and not the color of her hair. 

A brown skin girl with chunky circle black glasses with long medium sized square parted goddess braids that are wrapped in gold wire waits to cross the other side of Park Place. Her face was buried into her phone as cars pass her by due to the green light indicating for them to drive. Subconsciously, she moves her braids behind her so it’s not in her face. In this moment she plays with her braids as she waits to pass time. She is wearing jeans and a sweatshirt as she carries her bookbag on her back. Her book bag was open and you could see her papers everywhere and textbooks wearing her down as she stood waiting for the traffic light to be in her favor. Girls put their hair in protective styles such as braids because it may be more manageable than their real hair and many college students barely have time as it is so maybe that is why she wears her hair in braids. As school wears her down, she needs to be focused and put her hair in braids, but, let’s say you did not get this impression. Why else would she wear braids? 

Visual of when queens unite with other queens

Whether people realize it or not, hair is an important characteristic that many people of all races and ethnicities use to express themselves. All of the Black women that were observed had one thing in common; their hair is very versatile and they knew this. They wore their natural hair in multiple different styles. Some wore their natural hair, some had twists, some wore braids, many put in extensions, some girls put in weaves, or wore wigs, and the list goes on. But exactly how would one of these women or, even you, feel if your boss told them that your hair or certain hairstyle was “unprofessional”? Can you even begin to imagine the embarrassment and humiliation of getting sent home because your boss believes your hair is “untamed”? The last question is if you are an African American woman, working for a corporation and it was you being discriminated for you how would you make sure this never happened again?