Abstract
In 2009, The “Natural hair movement” developed and was widely discussed in online discourse. The goal of this contemporary movement was to encourage Black women to wear their natural hair to work in an effort to combat internalized negative images Black women might have surrounding natural hair. This transformative movement resulted in many books and articles being written on the shared experiences and adversities many Black women face about choosing to wear their natural hair today in the workplace. These inspiring books and articles prompted this project which will track my journey and the results of conducting a Black hair questionnaire focused on the topic of natural hair. I ask: have societal pressures affected Black women in the workplace in their lifetime? Have they benefited from the resurgence of the natural hair movement? These surveys explore each woman’s individual experience with their hair journey. The survey results gave insight to what Black women experienced surrounding their hair and encouraged further discourse about this topic within the RIT community.
Publication Date
4-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Student Type
Undergraduate
Degree Name
Museum Studies (BS)
Advisor
Tamar Carroll
Advisor/Committee Member
Katrina Overby
Advisor/Committee Member
Tina Lent
Recommended Citation
Green, Leah, "“Natural State”: Navigating the Experiences of Black Women’s Natural Hair Identities" (2020). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from
https://repository.rit.edu/theses/10414
Campus
RIT – Main Campus