Ama Tanks

I was born into a world of doting parents and family members…steeped in the tradition of Marcus Garvey’s teachings.

My early education was at “The Modern School”, the first all Black Private school in Harlem. Mildred Johnson, the founder and principal, was the niece of James Weldon Johnson, the creator of “The Negro National Anthem”, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”. Mildred Johnson and her supportive teachers, mostly from the South, instilled in us a sense of pride, we were empowered to strive for excellence in whatever we did.

In the 1960’s I graduated from Music and Art High school …a voice student and Hunter College in the Bronx with a B.A. in Biology and Chemistry.

 The 60’s was an era of riots, sit-ins, school lock outs, marches and assassinations …Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. Black people were fighting for their lives. Newley emerging African Nations  were freed from European colonization and led into neo-colonization.

“The Black Is Beautiful” movement pioneered by “AJASS” and “The Grandassa Models” was lighting a fire across the country.

I wanted to be a part of it. My Great Uncle and Aunt were members of Elombe Brathe and Kwame Brathwaites organizations, “Patrice Lumumba Coalition” and “AJASS”. These organizations opened the consciousness of people to embrace their Beautiful Black self with Black women modelling African inspired clothes and their ”Natural Hair”. So when Kwame invited me to become a “Grandassa ” it was a natural fit… a perfect fit. I became a “Grandassa Model”.

In 1969 I was hired by a commercial airline as a “Stewardess/Flight Attendant. Euro-centric beauty and hairstyles was the menu of the day. That day changed when I was hired with my natural/afro…one of he first. I wore my natural hair then and now to over sixty-five (65) countries world-wide. For me it was imperative for me to show the world that being your natural self means loving your culture, your being, your self. Power and Love is in your hands when we honor our natural selves.