Black is beautiful

A 1974 German "Black is beautiful" poster

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Black is beautiful is a cultural movement that was started in the United States of America in the 1960s by African Americans. It later spread to much of the black world, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in South Africa. It aims to dispel the notion in many world cultures that black people's natural features such as skin color, facial features and hair are inherently ugly. John Stewart Rock was long thought to be the first to coin the phrase "black is beautiful"–during a speech in 1858–but historical records indicate he never actually used the specific phrase on that day. The movement also encouraged men and women to stop trying to eliminate African-identified traits by straightening their hair and attempting to lighten or bleach their skin.

This movement began in an effort to counteract the prevailing idea in American culture that features typical of "Blacks" were less attractive or desirable than those of "Whites". Research indicates that the idea of "blackness" being ugly is highly damaging to the psyche of African Americans, manifesting itself as internalized racism. This idea made its way into black communities themselves and led to practices such as paper bag parties: social events which discriminated against dark-skinned African-Americans by only admitting lighter-skinned individuals.

Cultural influence

In 1968, inspired by the slogan, the North American Conference of Homophile Organizations (NACHO) adopted the slogan "Gay Is Good".

Also the name of a disc "Black is beautiful" (Windmill, 1974), which contains "the very best of recent hits and has been specially recorded by Windmill as a tribute to these great singers and their songs".

See also

• Afro
• Black pride
• Black nationalism
• African American culture
• Cool (aesthetic)
• Cornrows
• Dreadlocks
• Natural hair
• "Non Angli, sed Angeli"
• Racial transformation
• John Rock

Works cited

• Blasius, Marc and Shane Phelan, eds. (1997). We Are Everywhere: A Historical Sourcebook of Gay and Lesbian Politics. New York, Routledge. ISBN 0415908590.