QuoteProject
Before the advent of the white man, black people were doing all kinds of things with their hair. The rejection of kinks and curls did come with the white man.
Lupita Nyong'O
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote highlights the cultural significance of black hair and critiques the imposition of Western beauty standards that reject natural hair textures.

Lupita Nyong'o's quote emphasizes the rich history and variety of hairstyles among black people prior to colonial influence. It critiques how white Western beauty ideals have often led to the devaluation of natural hair textures, promoting a narrow definition of beauty that does not honor the diversity present in black culture's relationship with hair.

Themes

Black HairCultural SignificanceBeauty StandardsDiversityColonialism

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a speech celebrating cultural heritage and self-acceptance.

More from Lupita Nyong'O

My immediate family was always very supportive. It was my own fear of the rest of the world not accepting me, the rest of our society not accepting my wish to be an actor.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
[My mother] always said I was beautiful and I finally believed her at some point.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion: for yourself and for those around you.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
As human beings, we aren't as individual as we'd like to believe we are. And I think that's what makes acting possible. Despite the fact that I have not experienced something, I have it in my human capacity to imagine it and to put myself in someone else's shoes, and to take someone else's circumstances personally.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
I've loved the opportunity to learn about the fashion world and appreciate it as an art form, and I look forward to my continued education, but I never want it to take over my acting.
Lupita Nyong'ORead

Similar quotes

We have such a young culture that there is an opportunity to contribute wonderful new myths to it, which will be accepted.
Kurt VonnegutRead
Think about how much fashion profits from black culture and how underrepresented we are in the industry. If you insist on using black celebrities to peddle your merchandise and add a cool factor to your front row, it is indecent to not care about the plights of that person's community.
Kerby Jean-RaymondRead
Just as the natural environment depends on biodiversity, so the human environment depends on cultural diversity, because no one civilization encompasses all the spiritual, ethical and artistic expressions of mankind.
Jonathan SacksRead
Tourism is a very big economic benefit to the Sherpa people, and also, they have very strong ties to their own social attitudes and their own religion, so fortunately, they're not too influenced by many of our Western attitudes.
Edmund HillaryRead
At our peril, we ignore the fact that black vernacular, like the blues, both has a form and performs... For just as there would be no American music without black folks, there would be very little of our American language.
Kevin YoungRead
People come here penniless but not cultureless. They bring us gifts. We can synthesize the best of our traditions with the best of theirs. We can teach and learn from each other to produce a better America.
Mary PipherRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.