Throughout history, black people’s hair has often been a symbol of oppression. Black hair has been looked down upon in different aspects of life, like when black people can’t get a job with their natural hair because it’s considered unprofessional and dirty. Black people, especially black women, are often taught to hate it so much that they spend hundreds of dollars on chemicals and tools to change the texture of their hair. Many black people think it’s very important to embrace your natural hair and be proud of it. Here are some black kids at South that are embracing the different styles that come with black hair.

Some simple reasons Senior Antoine Ferguson wears his hair naturally is “because I’m lazy, haircuts are expensive, and it’s more fun this way.” Also, Ferguson wears natural hair is because it is a symbol of black pride for him,  “I think it’s important that black people wear their natural hair out because it shows pride in who they are and who they want to be.”

Ferguson is inspired by other black celebrities who wear their natural hair. “I look up to all the black artists wearing there hair out like Jimi Hendrix, André 3000, and Kendrick Lamar,” said Ferguson. It’s really cool to see black artists doing their thing. I support any black artist that’s confident in who they are.”

Sophomore Julian Medved wears his hair naturally for similar reasons. “I think it’s important to wear my natural hair out so that I don’t forget where I came from because being black is a big part of me.” Medved also believes that is it important to show that pride in being black. “I’ve always had to experience racism in my life and it feels good to express that I am black and by expressing that is good and I want people to see,” said Medved. “It’s good to show your hair and hold onto it because it’s kinda the last thing we got and ever since like slavery we’ve always been like losing things and so its like you don’t want to lose you culture.”

Kendrick Lamar is someone who inspires Medved because he talks about important issues in America. “I look up to Kendrick Lamar because he’s been really vocal and we really haven’t had a lot of people stand up and talk about real problems in America with like black vs white people,” he said. “He’s one of the people who would do that for black people.”

For sophomore Robert Thomas, family, music and where he’s from have inspired him to wear his natural hair. “I’m inspired to wear dreads because when I was back in Chicago me and my brothers use to rap a lot,” he said. “We use to listen to people that had dreads and that’s what inspired me to start wearing my hair like this.” Specifically, Famous Dex is a rapper that inspires Thomas to wear his hair naturally. “I think it important for black people to wear their hair out because it shows who we are and shows that we’re proud of our hair and we’re proud to be black.”