Cornrow Braid History

Cornrow braid History

 The tradition of "Cornrow Braiding" originated around 500 B.C. The style was used to indicate status, religion, kinship, age, ethnicity, and transmit cultural value between generations. When America had started bringing slaves over, the Africans were stripped of their hair for sanitary reasons. This was a way of removing the slaves past and forcing them to take part in the white culture of hairstyles. There are many artifacts from thousands of years ago showing people with the hairstyle of cornrows. Those of the slaves that working inside the plantation house such as women and children, and not often men, were required to have a clean and neat appearance when inside the house. This often allowed the slaves to wear their hair in cornrows, plaits, and tight braids. After the civil war many African Americans began to straighten their hair. Although that was mostly left for the adults to do. The children more often than not had cornrow and tight braids done in their hair. Only on a Sunday would a young child be seen with her hair down and free of all braids. One of the many styles that came about in our history was in the 1950's when African women began to wear their hair in sort of a "Bush" style. Only then did Americans start to realize the beauty for African hairstyles.