FOR FREEDOMS: KWAME BRATHWAITE
By Kwame S. Brathwaite - Director of the Archive and son of the photographer
Kwame Brathwaite
Untitled (Self Portrait), 1964
Written in conjuction with the exhibition Cry of Victory and Short Walks to Freedom
On January 28, 1962, the first Naturally show was held at Harlem’s Purple Manor entitled Naturally ‘62 The Original African Coiffure and Fashion Extravaganza Designed to Restore our Racial Pride and Standards. The event was initiated and organized by my father, photographer Kwame Brathwaite, his older brother Elombe Brath, and the organization that they co-founded with other like-minded artists in 1956: the African Jazz Art Society and Studios (AJASS). Jazz greats Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach headlined Naturally ’62, which was initially planned as a one-time event. The first show proved so popular, however, that a second sold-out presentation was held that same night to accommodate the crowd. A segment of the show was the debut of the Grandassa Models, women who represented African standards of beauty: natural hair, in African themed fashions and sans makeup. This was the genesis of the Black is Beautiful movement.
The Grandassa Models graced album covers for various Blue Note Records artists including Freddie Roach and Lou Donaldson and were featured on album covers entitled “Brown Sugar” (1964) and “The Natural Soul” (1962). These covers signified that the visual rhetoric that the Grandassa models represented was being embraced and celebrated, as it was a departure from traditional covers featuring the artists alone. The Grandassa models’ presence on these album covers also signaled a shift in attitudes toward fashion, the black image, and beauty standards. Society, as a whole, was embracing change and moving toward challenging social norms through artistic expression.
My father’s photography is a visual representation of the activism behind the Black is Beautiful movement. AJASS and the Grandassa Models cham- pioned education, community building, protesting corrupt practices in law enforcement and liberation. With art, fashion and music as the medium, these grassroots campaigns spread from Harlem, to Chicago and Detroit. They also partnered with activists across the globe to educate and promote liberation throughout the diaspora. Trips to the United Nations when non-governmental organizations (NGOs) were visiting from African nations also served as an opportunity to connect with supporters in New York.
AJASS was a conduit connecting these liberation platforms and continued to spread the message of empowerment and equality through programs such as “Like It Is” with Gil Noble and radio stations such as WBAI and WBLS. The message spread as the NGOs went back to their respective countries and informed their constituents that their fight for freedom continued with their brothers and sisters in the United States.
The activism that was the foundation of the Black is Beautiful movement is now seeing a resurgence through social justice campaigns such as Africa Rising, For Freedoms, Black Lives Matter and Black Girls Rock. These move- ments urge us to recognize the worth and beauty in others and ourselves. After a talk I held at a school in Los Angeles in 2016, an African-American woman in her 50s shared that the first time she felt beautiful and accepted was the first time she heard the phrase Black is Beautiful.
The images of the Grandassa Models that I had displayed during my presentation were familiar to her and reminded her of a turning point in her life. Black is Beautiful is as relevant today as it was when the movement began. It has always been a phrase that was meant to empower and a statement that black people are worthy, to be respected and naturally beautiful too. It is only when you consider that, do you understand how it empowers us to recognize the humanity, worth and beauty in all of us. My father understood the power of imagery, which is why he worked tirelessly on his craft. He preserved the legacy of the Black is Beautiful movement, which is not just a mere slogan, but a template for the way that the marriage of art and activism can move us closer to substantive equality and freedom.
KWAME SAMORI BRATHWAITE, son of photographer Kwame Brathwaite, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Due North LLC, through which he manages his father’s photographic archive and collaborative projects that are concordant with the themes in his father’s work,namely activism, politics, fashion and music. Through his work with the Philip Martin Gallery, photographs from the archive have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of the City of New York, Francis Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery and MIT List Visual Arts Center. Kwame Samori authored a chapter entitled “Fashion and Consciousness” in the book Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip and has been invited to speak at numerous institutions including the Museum of the City of New York and Harvard Art Museum. Kwame Samori, also a real estate professional, graduated from Amherst College in 1996 with a B.A. in Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought and an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business in 2018. He resides in Pasadena, CA with his wife and three children.