Today; black-owned barber shops play a central role in African American public life. The intimacy of commercial grooming encourages both confidentiality and camaraderie; which make the barber shop an important gathering place for African American men to talk freely. But for many years preceding and even after the Civil War; black barbers endured a measure of social stigma for perpetuating inequality: though the profession offered economic mobility to black entrepreneurs; black barbers were obliged by custom to serve an exclusively white clientele. Quincy T. Mills traces the lineage from these nineteenth-century barbers to the bustling enterprises of today; demonstrating that the livelihood offered by the service economy was crucial to the development of a black commercial sphere and the barber shop as a democratic social space.Cutting Along the Color Line chronicles the cultural history of black barber shops as businesses and civic institutions. Through several generations of barbers; Mills examines the transition from slavery to freedom in the nineteenth century; the early twentieth-century expansion of black consumerism; and the challenges of professionalization; licensing laws; and competition from white barbers. He finds that the profession played a significant though complicated role in twentieth-century racial politics: while the services of shaving and grooming were instrumental in the creation of socially acceptable black masculinity; barbering permitted the financial independence to maintain public spaces that fostered civil rights politics. This sweeping; engaging history of an iconic cultural establishment shows that black entrepreneurship was intimately linked to the struggle for equality.
#290493 in Books University of Pennsylvania Press 2002-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .61 x 5.98l; .89 #File Name: 0812218221272 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Well documented; but rather slow reading. Inclusion of ...By userWell documented; but rather slow reading. Inclusion of almost every example available to illustrate a tread or pattern is thorough research but it gets repetitious after the third or fourth example.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Generous Enemies a good readBy HappyGrumpyThis book provides an interesting angle on the interactions between patriots; loyalists; and those "riding the fence." I recommend this book.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. A different; fascinating perspective on the American Revolutionary WarBy E. JakseticThis is a very interesting study of the family; personal; social; and business relationships of Patriots and Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. Focusing mostly on New York City (and the neighboring areas); the author discusses the dilemmas; complications; and often difficult choices that many people faced during the course of the American Revolutionary War. Some of the subjects covered in the book include: the problems facing families with divided political loyalties; the challenges of living in New York City under British military occupation; the surprising nature of travel and communications across enemy lines into and out of New York City; how social class and social status affected the treatment of American and British prisoners of war; the effect of war on businessmen and their customers; how the American Revolutionary War affected slaves and former slaves; and the shifting fortunes of the Loyalists.Professor Van Buskirk's book is both very informative and very readable. This is a history book that a non-historian can enjoy; and a student of history can find useful. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the American Revolutionary War.
