400 Years Without A Comb: The Inferior Seed

This is a fascinating history of the Black experience in America as channeled through a unique focal point: the kinky, curly hair native to African peoples. Author and producer Willie L. Morrow begins his story with dramatic re-enactments, overlaid with narration, that show and describe the beautifully decorated ivory and wood combs that Africans traditionally used to groom their hair. During the "unsolicited journey" which began the long and shameful period of slavery in our nation, African slaves came to America without their combs. How they, first, sought ways to care for their hair with inadequate European combs (and other makeshift tools), and second, attempted to model their hair and skin after that of their white masters is Morrow's primary tale. Men used axle grease to make the hair lay down, and lye to straighten it (lye was also used by mothers on their children's faces to lighten the skin). Women used "straightening" or heated combs, and eventually various commercial forms of "relaxer" in an effort to imitate white hair styles. With the expansion of Black consciousness in the late 60s and early 70s--the Afro hairstyle came into vogue, and Willie Morrow--after a 400 year hiatus--began to commercially produce the first wood (and later plastic) combs for grooming. A few of the dramatic skits seem unnecessarily long; this minor quibble aside, 400 Years Without a Comb: The Inferior Seed is not only an intriguing history, but also a trenchant psychological portrait of the more subtle effects of subjugation. Highly recommended. (Available from: California Curl, 4183 Market St., San Diego, CA 92102.)