Dr. Kimberly Moffitt
In 2009, Dr. Kimberly Moffitt decided to teach a course on her research interest and a topic at the center of her then-forthcoming co-edited volume with Dr. Regina Spellers-Sims, Blackberries and Redbones: Critical Articulations of Black Hair/Body Politics in Africana Communities. The course, “Seminar in Black Hair/Body Politics,” was well-received by 25 undergraduate students and became a staple in the rotation of courses offered by Moffitt. A course in high demand, it seeks to include historical and contemporary texts and discussions that convey the significance of the politicized Black body and by extension its hair. Since then, she has written additional works exploring the role of Black hair in American society, while also offering commentary on this topic in mediated (print and radio) spaces.
Tunisia Lumpkin
Doctoral student, Tunisia Lumpkin, whose dissertation research explores the identity issues of Black women associated with their natural hair joined forces with Kimberly Moffitt in Spring 2019 to compile a repository for “all things Black hair” in written form. The outcome is blackhairsyllabus.com.
This is a WORK-IN-PROGRESS and will be crowd-sourced and updated regularly to provide this online repository and resource for those in the academic world and beyond who express interest, desire, and need to understand the politicized and social world of Black hair on Black bodies. We are also mothers of Black children and recognize the continuous need to explore these issues in hopes of providing children, including ours, with the armor needed to navigate a world that often challenges and denigrates, yet rarely affirms who they are.
Please feel free to contact us at info@blackhairsyllabus.com to share your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions for this site.