Silence and Solitude

I spent months creating this Beyoncé inspired collection from some of her favorite looks of mine. I think I did a pretty good job! 

This collection is now available at Shoplovelace.com for just $80 - But.. If you subscribe, you get a 15% off coupon sent directly to your email! 

Lovelace Wigs is a small black, woman owned company. I do all of my photo shoots, marketing, web designs, literally everything, and I’ve most recently started doing my own customer service again. This is a one woman show, and I work so hard on trying to create the perfect business. 

A simple reblog can help me grow my business to where I can have employees to help with the work load I have everyday! I have the potential to be so much better but my main issue is having so many orders and not enough hands to help with packaging and customer service. Once I am able to save enough coins from my sales, I’ll be on my way to getting a larger office and hiring at least two employees by October. Below is a what a weekends worth of orders looks like. A lot to keep up with! 

One of my customers might be on your dashboard! Reblog to support a growing black woman owned business!

hey, thanks for the message.

I really don’t know how to answer this, 

There are certain things that I do and say, particularly around children (especially my niece who is showing signs of skin tone bias) in my family but I’m not sure you realise that I’m not a black woman myself, So I am out of depth and I don’t think my advice is appropriate, colorism is a very gendered thing, this is not to suggest that black men don’t experience colorism BUT when it synergises with misogyny it becomes really inflamed and I only know how I as a black man attempt to counter these things but I don’t know what to say nor do I think it’s my place to tell you how to tackle colorism intra-black women…if that makes sense…

1. If you hear anyone popping off about dark skin, ask them questions. Why did you say that? What do you mean? Is there something wrong with that (having a darker complexion)? You can play dumb or make it clear they been seent, but the point is to make them a) question their stupid bias and b) let them know that shit isn’t cool

2. Compliment, praise, and uplift BW with dark skin. Don’t overdo it, that can make people self conscious, but make it clear you think they’re beautiful and valued and deserving of happiness. A simple compliment works better with acquaintances or women you don’t know; you can pour it on thicker for friends and family members. I had a childhood friend who was dark skinned. I didn’t know everything then that I know now about colorism, but I knew I admired her features, her style and her effervescent personality. I praised her to the high heavens and so did her mother (also a dark skinned woman). Reblog dark women on your dash and include tags about how they’re killing it! Spread the word and the world will change. Not overnight, but it will change.

3. Write emails/letters/social media posts to the people who create media featuring characters with dark skin and let them know if they’re a) fucking up, b) doing a good job or c) not including dark skin characters at all a la grownish, and therefore are fucking up. Advocate for better representation.

4. If you are a content creator (writer, youtuber, artist, etc), create characters with dark skin, esp. women, and make them as characters, not as points towards some kind of diversity quota. Craft them carefully so as to avoid stereotypes about dark skin. And if you really want to go the extra mile by creating media that’s not just good but great, engage with those stereotypes in the text: deconstruct them, address them, create a conversation around them. And sometimes you don’t even have to make a statement to make a statement. So often being a BW in general can feel like being a living, breathing blind spot. We don’t see ourselves depicted enough. So sometimes the best thing can be to include a lot of well written dark skinned characters and not make too big a deal about it. Because they exist, they are valid and they deserve to see themselves, to not be some deviation from the default.

5. This goes back to number 1, but I really can’t stress this enough: CHECK OTHER PEOPLE WHEN THEY SAY SOME SHIT. If they start fawning over your light skin and putting down bw with dark skin, ask them why it matters so much to them, ask them what makes you superior to her, etc. Or if you’re past the point of asking, put your foot down and tell them point blank you’re not about to be their lightbrite trophy so they can nurse their prejudice.

6. Recognize that bias also extends to hair (curl patterns), fashion (what’s sexy on you will be considered hood/ghetto/skanky on her), emotions (if you get an attitude it’s being feisty, if she does or even just tries to speak up for herself, she’ll be labeled a bitter black bitch), etc, etc. Peep game. Always, forever, no exception.

7. I shouldn’t even have to say this, but avoid common pitfalls like telling them to stay out of the sun, to put on a lot of sunscreen, to stay in the shade. Or some shit like to stay in the light, not the shadows, because they won’t be seen in the dark. You get the idea. All of these are real things I’ve heard. I’m not even all that dark myself, but one of my derogatory nicknames growing up was la cucaracha (the cockroach). As bad as it was for me (and they were relentless), once I was older and learned, I realized that what I went through, a girl much darker than me has gone through tenfold. Be mindful, be kind, be AWARE.

“Feelings”

Captured on iPhone 📳

Super disgusting! People are FUCKED UP. 

When Suh said she would report the action to Airbnb officials, the host replied: “It’s why we have Trump.”

Suh said that comment made her painfully aware of how threatened minorities have become under the Trump administration.

“For me personally, to now have someone say something racist to me and say it’s because of Trump, it was my fears coming true,” Suh said. “That people who held these racist beliefs felt emboldened.”

The host went on to say she would “not allow this country to be told what to do by foreigners.”

Suh is an American citizen who has called the U.S. home since she was 3 years old.

Josee C. Roza

Masquerade Nuptuale and Portrait of Siriaco

Portugal (1788)

The website that came along with this submission is in French, and although I don’t really know French, I did the best I could with the names, birthplaces, and descriptions of the people who are in these portraits:

Martinho de Mello e Castro, black native of Bahia, sent by the governor and captain-general of Pernambuco, José César Menezes, who arrived in 1787. He is 14 years old.

Dona Roza Corazon de Jesus, aged 18, from Horguetta (?) She was sent to the court by José Gonçalves da Conaro, then Governor of Angola and arrived in this city on September 7, 1781. She is famous for her face that combines vivacity, wisdom and grace that adds to her attractiveness. 

Don Pedro, black native of Luanda, capital of the kingdom of Angola. He was sent to the court by the governor who was Baron Mossamedes.  He is between 30 and 40 years old, recognizable in this portrait because of his unusual face.

 Marcelino de Tapuia, from Mariuá sent by Martinho Souza e Albuquerque, the then governor of Pará; he is 26 years old.

Donna Anna Rio de Sena. She was sent to Portugal by Antonio de Mello y Castro, governor and captain general of Mozambique. She arrived in June 1787; she is 17 years old.

Dom José, native Maruide, aged 30: happened in Rio de Janeiro and from there to the court where it   arrived December 24, 1786, sent by the viceroy of the states of Brazil, who was Luiz   de Vasconcellos e Souza. 

Siriaco, from Cotingiba where he rose to Bahia and from there sent to the Portuguese Court by Dom José Rodrigo de Menezes e Noronha who was  then the Governor and Captain General [Bahia].  He is 12 and came to this court July 1786;  exceptional and famous accidents of complexion can be seen in his portrait.

Sebastian, a native of Rio Sena where he was sent to Portugal by the then Governor and Captain General Mozambique Antonio de Melo e Castro, arrived in July 1787 and he is 31 years old.

The second portrait is of Siriaco on his own, minimally clothed to show his complexion. I’d encourage any readers who speak French or Portuguese to check out the site and hopefully do a better translation than I’m capable of. The names, ages, and birthplaces should at least be correct.

18th c portrait of Siriaco, African boy with vitiligo. Also portraits of people of colour who were dwarfs at the Portuguese court in the late 18th c., including Dona Roza, favourite of the Portuguese queen.