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Cunningham, Michael, and Craig Marberry - Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats
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ladyjax for the rec!
This book originated in Michael Cunningham's photography exhibition of black women in church hats; the interviews came later, as did a stage play (which I wish I could see!). The women mostly range from 40-60 in age, with a few over 60 and a few under 40, and very few under 30. Most of them are from the South, although we have several New Yorkers as well.
The hats are gorgeous, as are the stories that go with them. Some women reminisce about watching their mothers don their church hats, they remember being forced to wear a hat or envying the ones they saw, they recall the one hat they let someone else borrow or the one passed down to them from their grandmother. They remember the first hat they bought. Many of the stories take place during the days of Jim Crow and segregation, but even then, the focus is on the church community and the family.
I didn't know very much about church hats or black churches, and I very much didn't know about the Church of God in Christ hats. Yay imperialist documentation of history and "what's important." But it was very good finding out about it via the book, and hopefully it's nostalgic and brings up fond memories for people, like it seemed to for the interviewees.
Check out some of the portraits at his website; they're gorgeous, and I can't decide which one I like best.
ladyjax for the rec!This book originated in Michael Cunningham's photography exhibition of black women in church hats; the interviews came later, as did a stage play (which I wish I could see!). The women mostly range from 40-60 in age, with a few over 60 and a few under 40, and very few under 30. Most of them are from the South, although we have several New Yorkers as well.
The hats are gorgeous, as are the stories that go with them. Some women reminisce about watching their mothers don their church hats, they remember being forced to wear a hat or envying the ones they saw, they recall the one hat they let someone else borrow or the one passed down to them from their grandmother. They remember the first hat they bought. Many of the stories take place during the days of Jim Crow and segregation, but even then, the focus is on the church community and the family.
I didn't know very much about church hats or black churches, and I very much didn't know about the Church of God in Christ hats. Yay imperialist documentation of history and "what's important." But it was very good finding out about it via the book, and hopefully it's nostalgic and brings up fond memories for people, like it seemed to for the interviewees.
Check out some of the portraits at his website; they're gorgeous, and I can't decide which one I like best.
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And okay, so most Americans don't live in majority-black cities or have black churches right in their neighborhoods. But why does a newspaper like the Washington Post have articles explaining church hats as a foreign cultural thing? DC is just as black as Baltimore...
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I think that's it. It has become so much a part of your everyday landscape that you yourself just don't notice it as being strange or weird but for the rest of America it was "OMG, a hat, A HAT! RED ALERT!". Like you, I was wondering what all the fuss was about, especially when I looked at the hat and thought, "Hmm, good choice. It won't blow away if the wind kicks up."
(I have often wondered if some of the folks we pass on Sunday morning recognize that we're going to church just like they are, with my husband in a polo shirt and me in a sundress, for example.)
LOL. I remember the first time I had ever seen a white person come to our church for a service - he was young and I think he may have been on the road on foot. He came with a backpack which he set in the back of the church. And he wore jeans! Shocking! But he was welcomed regardless. We were Methodists, so not that strict in the dress department.
I feel a twinge now because I really don't dress for church. I go to an Episcopal church now and since I'm usually up near the high altar, I'm under a robe and what not. Still, in the back of my brain, I can hear my grandmother, "You're wearing jeans to church? Have you lost your mind?"
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Because not enough of the Post's journalists are qualified to write about the breadth and depth of the American experience. They probably think that Black history month isn't American history month by any other name.
Have you read Jill Nelson's The Audacity of Whiteness (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jill-nelson/the-audacity-of-whiteness_b_163295.html)?
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This.
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I don't even think it's entirely limited in color; the Easter hat, and dressing up in your finest new outfit for church, showed up elsewhere. It's just that it's mostly a modern survival in black congregations.
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Because a lot of people who work in DC and read the Post actually live out in the 'burbs, or in Virginia or Maryland? There are lots of church hats in Philly, as well, but I suspect not nearly as many in the suburbs.
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"We always make hats for her for high-profile events, so for us, the inauguration really was no big deal," Song told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Who knew the hat would be so hot?
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I wished everybody would wear hats, it's such a cool way to express yourself. After finishing this book, I decided when I"m an old lady, I'm going to wear hats.
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Interesting inauguration note: I, and all the women I've spoken to, thought Aretha Franklin's hat was TEH AWESOME. The three men I've spoken to so far were baffled by it. Need a larger sample....
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And I really hope the stage play gets revived or something, because I really want to see it!
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