First-Year | Major: Art

It took me a long time to love my hair. Up until the eighth grade, I flat ironed it and I never wore it curly because I tried to fit in with my white, straight-haired classmates. I was one of two or three black people in my elementary and middle school. I hated my blackness and I couldn't stand not fitting in. When I began high school, I decided to wear my hair curly for the first time. I began to love it and strut my Afro down the halls of a 95% white school. I used it as a sense of rebellion against the white beauty standard and I loved standing out. This story is extremely common with black children in majority white schools, but not every black child has the luxury I had of growing out of that hate. For them, I proudly wear my Afro.

Photograph by Jasmine Jackson