Black hair has been a rousing topic for politicians, comedians and artists for decades. Malcolm X argued that straightening Black hair to conform to white beauty standards was a form of racist brainwashing. Regina Kimbell made a documentary with the brilliant title “My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage” (2010) and the comedian Chris Rock made a similar documentary, “Good Hair” (2009), about the Black hair industry (and, of course, got in trouble at the Oscars for mentioning a Black actress’s lack of hair). Now a Broadway play, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” written by Jocelyn Bioh, celebrates the “masterpieces” created by West African immigrants on women’s heads in a Harlem braiding shop. What’s often missing from the Black hair narrative is the experience of Black nonbinary people.

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Persons: Malcolm X, Regina Kimbell, ”, Chris Rock, “, Jocelyn Bioh, What’s, Black, Jonathan Lyndon Chase’s Organizations: West Locations: Harlem, Philadelphia