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Essence MAGAZINE™
Meet The Faces Who Ushered In The Black Is Beautiful Movement
It’s been 60 years since the seminal cultural-identity mantra was born. On this significant anniversary, we honor a watershed movement in black history.
Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of “Naturally ‘62,” and Intrepid Women & Visionary Men
They were Black and Beautiful, proud and confident, talented and innovative. The Grandassa Models were what many young girls in the 1960s would learn was an example to strive for as they grew into their own knowledge and love of self.
Kwame Brathwaite, Grandassa models and the legacy of the black is beautiful campaign
Born to Bajan parents, the Brooklyn based artists, along with his brother, Elombe Brath, created the Black is Beautiful campaign.
Black is Beautiful: 60th Anniversary of the Transformative Fashion Show, “Naturally ‘62”
VIDEO: Original Grandassa Models Queen Black Rose and Barbara “Adzua” Solomon; and Bob Gumbs, graphic designer and original member of the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (organizers of the Naturally ‘62 show) discuss the power of fashion to represent Black lives, challenge false narratives, and ignite change.
House passes Crown Act banning discrimination against Black hairstyles
Crown stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. The Crown Act prohibits “discrimination based on an individual’s texture or style of hair.”
Black is Beautiful: The Photography of Kwame Brathwaite
The first-ever major exhibition dedicated to Kwame Brathwaite, a key figure of the second Harlem Renaissance, features over 40 photographs, select ensembles and accessories, and Jazz albums.
Grandassa Models: Beautiful, Black History Still Being Made
The celebrated couple, jazz drummer Max Roach and vocalist Abbey Lincoln, toured by bus with the Grandassa models and AJASS producers, helping to present the Naturally shows to sold-out venues across the nation. Many Black women were enthused, many more were intrigued, but cautious.
Hidden Black History: 13 Trailblazing Photojournalists Who Have Shaped American History
Photography is often a reflection or commentary on a people or a culture. For the Black community, photographs and images taken by our own kinfolk have allowed us to take pride in our own heritage while also also allowing us to remember the full narratives that make up who we are in light of our people’s disenfranchised history and fragmented collective recollection in this country.
Fashionbook
THIS ANNUAL FASHION SHOW HELPED START THE BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT
CR LOOKS BACK ON THE HISTORY OF GRANDASSA MODELS, WHICH USED BEAUTY AND FASHION TO EMPOWER BLACK WOMEN.
The activists and artists who started the Black is Beautiful movement, a mid-century call for the celebration of Black features and culture, did so out of necessity. “We said, ‘We’ve got to do something to make the women feel proud of their hair, proud of their Blackness,” said artist and activist Kwame Brathwaite.