Cornrows – A Spirit Force
By Camille Yarbrough
If you are among the many thou-
sands who are wearing their hair in
the style that we call Cornrows, then
as quiet as it is kept, you are carrying
on an African tradition that’s more
than five thousand years old. Um
hum, the braided hair style that we all
call Cornrows dates back at least as
far as thirty five thousand BC.
Unfortunately, most major newspapers
and fashion magazines across
the country have had feature articles
touting Cornrows (usually modeled
by Euro-American women) as a new
fashion in America “recently adopted
by Black women.” Well, Cornrows
are not new to America. Black women
have been wearing cornrows in this
country since our great-grandparents
were first brought here from Africa
some three hundred sixty years ago.
Even while being transported from
Africa to the Americas as captives on
slave ships, in spite of the terror, the
debasement and brutality imposed
upon them, many African women
somehow managed to Cornrow their
children’s hair and, I’m sure, each
other’s.
But most important to note is that
Cornrows is more than fashion. It is
also Symbol. Let me explain what I
mean. Centuries ago our African an-
castors developed hair braiding, in-
cluding the style that we call Corn-
rows, into an art form. They named
the different styles and used them as
symbols to identify, among other
things, social status, age group and
religious affiliation. They incorpor-
ated the braided hair symbols into
their ceremonies, festivals, rites and
rituals and in that way symbolic-
braided-hair styles were passed on
from generation to generation and es-
tablished as part of the African
cultural support system. So Cornrows
became Fashion, Symbols and Tradi-
tion.
Cornrows
Cornorws where you been?
i been undercover
But I’m back again
Where have Cornrows been? And
why are they so popular now? As I
said before, Black women in America
have been wearing their hair in Corn-
rows for three hundred-sixty years.
But during slavery our great grand-
parents were victims of behavior-
modifying cruelty which altered their
attitudes about themselves and their
hair. They were ridiculed and constantly told that they were ugly and
that their hair was “bad”. This mental
terror was reinforced with physical
pain.
when you’re in pain
what folk think and do and say
about you
the thought, the act, the name
by an by in pain
you think and do and say the same
So our great-grandparents began
not to love themselves and would not
do anything to call attention to their
appearance. The women could not
and would not style their braids any-
more the way they did in the market
place back home. No longer could
their braids be worn as symbols of the
religious and beautiful.
Our men stopped wearing braids.
in Western society it was not con-
sidered manly. And because of the
forced disuse of our African
languages our braids even lost their
home-names and had to be renamed
after some ol’ rows of corn and had to
put up with being hidden and peekin’
out from beneath ol’ field hats, beat
up head rags, later under sweaty un-
comfortable wigs and…worst of all
…the straightnin’ comb was queen
the king was conkalene
on Saturday nights when the eagle
flew and everyone was clean.
So Cornrows and thread wrappin’
were alright for week days but not
good enough for Sunday-go-to-
church time. It was no longer
Fashion, Symbol or Tradition. It had
been reduced to bein’ “low class”…
in the same category as our music
and dance…a heathen style that it
was best we forget. It became a style
to be worn by little Black girls who
were called “Pickaninnies” and
“Topsy” and who were said not to
know who they were or where and
who they came from, but who were
supposed to have “just growed.”
These shame-born attitudes were
passed on and reinforced from
generation to generation. And, it was
not until the “60’s”—the “Move-
ment” –that our spirit, which had
steadily been getting stronger, spoke
out and we as a people became free
enough to look at ourselves again
and to like what we saw.
“Me too asked Great-Grammaw,
“Did the spirit die? And great-
grammaw said:
No such thing!
You can still hear the royal rhythms
Still fell the spirit in the air.
Look around and you will see the
old, old
symbol
that we now call cornrowed hair…
You see, the spirit of the symbol
is not changed by time, place,
class or fame.
and not even by hate or shame.
oh noo…you see,
it’s the spirit that makes the symbol.
And the spirit goes by many names.
When our ancestors were brought
here they had no hidden jewelry or
gold…all clothing had been taken
off of their bodies and they carried
nothing in their hands.
What they brought with them was a
Culture and traditions those were older
and more sophisticated than those of
their enslavers. But, most important
of all, our great-grandparents
brought with them the spiritual
energy that gave birth to their culture
and traditions. And after seven thou-
sand miles and three hundred years
of separation from the motherland,
our spiritual energy is still African
and getting stronger.
Now Cornrows is back as a fashion.
After all else, it is a natural adornment
for us…a classic style for our fine,
kinky African hair. How-to books are
being written about it (Accent African
by Col-Bob Associates, 250 E. 52nd
Street, New York, 10022) and every-
body is going it. But, I wonder if we
can be more protective of our hair
braiding tradition than we have been
about our music and dance. Other
peoples can guard their culture but
because of our unique situation in the
world it seems as if our culture is up
for grabs. Cornrows run the risk of
being turned into a “fad” and dis-
missed next year as being out of style
by those who are now exploiting it.
If we are worthy descendants of our
heroic ancestors, we will see to it that
little Black children continue to sit
between Black women’s knees and
squirm and cry about being tender
headed as I did and finally to quiet
down and listen to the older women
and their women talk and learn about
being family and about being Black
and about being loved, as their hair is
firmly but lovingly braided into the
style that we call cornrows and as five
thousand years of tradition is passed
onto them.
______________________________
Camille Yarbrough is a
writer/actress/composer living and
working in New York.
All quotes taken from Cornrows by
Camille Yarbrough, Coward, McCann
& Geoghegan.
_______________________________
THE BLACK COLLEGIAN April/May 1980