African American Barbershops

African American Barbershops
	The African American barbershop is as old as the history of the African in America. While the beauty parlor has been a special place for socializing among women of African descent, the men's barbershop has a longer and more distinctive heritage in the United States. Its history reveals a fascinating social institution that has played a significant role in the lives of fathers and their sons and other men and young boys growing up. Novelists and playwrights like August Wilson have anchored the urban inner city barbershop within their personal narratives and fiction. Television dramas and comedies have given it prominence. This unique public humanities and educational project will include early photographs, news clippings about barbers and their shops, narratives, listings of 19th and 20th century African American barbers in Georgetown (In 1850 there were three barbers of African descent in Georgetown, Kentucky who were free), and nearby communities, and brief sketches of the history and cultural significance of the barbershop.
Throughout most of the 20th century and even today in the city of Lexington, Kentucky and across the country, the barbershop has represented a popular gathering place. For most of the 20th century within the residentially separated African American community, this fundamental social institution was a central location for meaningful association and dialogue among men. Topics of conversation have ranged from community issues to economic and political realities and the "troubles of the world." Historically, this intriguing male dominated territory has served as a recreation center and a social setting for exchanging viewpoints and for debating about local and national events. In addition, the African American barbershop has symbolized a successful small business. Since slavery, the African American barbershop has constituted an important part of family and community life. The present unique humanities project centers on this engaging networking environment - its local history and contemporary presence. Funded in part by the Kentucky Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the innovative barbershop project is designed to enable us to understand an intriguing but changing social organization. From the present public humanities activity, guests and participants will become informed about the enchanting heritage - rich traditions, customs, and social significance - of the barbershop in the early to mid-20th century history of the African American community in Lexington and Central Kentucky. The barbershop project was researched by Dr. Doris Wilkinson, Sociology Dept. University of Kentucky, and is funded in part by the Kentucky Humanities Council, Inc. Dr. Wilkinson is the curator of the exhibit at Georgetown and Scott County Museum, June 10-30, 2002, and is available to speak or exhibit the barbershop collection in other locations. Contact her directly. Information on this page prepared and copyrighted by Dr. Doris Wilkinson.

Return to: Museum Schedule, 2002

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