Writer, producer, and actor Lena Waithe explains why the hair of Black women can be revolutionary, and how Cicely Tyson’s decision to wear hers naturally was an inspiration to many other Black women.
Biographical Timelines
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Video Features
Clip | Alicia Keys doesn’t mind being compared to Lena Horne
Clip | Book excerpt from “How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement”
Clip | Diahann Carroll talks race and makeup while filming “Julia”
Clip | Halle Berry on how seeing Diahann Carroll on TV changed her
Clip | Lena Waithe on mixed feelings towards Blaxploitation
Clip | Lena Waithe on why Cicely Tyson’s hair is revolutionary
Clip | Why Cicely Tyson was selective about her acting roles
TRANSCRIPT
- I think Black women and our hair is a revolution unto itself because how we choose to wear it is so telling about how we want to walk through the world, how we want to be perceived.
And I think that straight hair, natural hair, curly hair, big hair, you know, short hair, long hair, it's a form of expression.
And so I believe that, particularly Black women, have the right to wear their hair however they choose.
And there's a freedom in that.
And I think for Miss Cicely Tyson to wear her hair, well, she's worn it many ways, but very early on in her career for it to be natural and just beautiful and glistening, and it sends a message to other Black women that you too are as stunning and as beautiful and as radiant as Miss Cicely Tyson is, and your hair is beautiful and you are beautiful, and your skin is beautiful.
I think that's what she, well, basically would say every time she was on screen without having to say it.
Her deciding to wear her hair natural, in its natural state, was almost a form of protest to say, 'No, I won't conform, I won't try to make myself more palpable to a broad audience.'
It was clear who she was performing for.
It's always clear who she's performing for.
And I think that's why so many of us see ourselves in her and we see our ancestors in her.
We see our future in her.
And I think that's why she is truly timeless, she's a timeless figure.
And not just, I think, in cinema and in television, but I think in our country.