Cornrow braids are not only widespread in Africa, they are also quite ancient. As Peters (1990) notes in her essay on black hairstyle history: "Hieroglyphs and sculptures dating back thousands of years illustrate the attention African's have paid to their hair. Braids were etched into the back of the head of the majestic sphinx. Some of the earliest Nok and Benin busts from Nigeria show intricate hairstyles.

Cornrow hairstyles in Africa also cover a wide social terrain: religion, kinship, status, age, ethnicity, and other attributes of identity can all be expressed in hairstyle. Just as important is the act of braiding, which transmits cultural values between generations, expresses bonds between friends, and establishes the role of professional practitioner.

There are a vast variety of traditional African styles, ranging from complex curves and spirals to the strictly linear composition of this 1939 Dan style from Côte d’Ivoire. The date of this photo, 1939, helps remind us that cornrows were invented long before the civil rights era in the United States.

It might seem tempting to look at the original African styles as more "natural," and our computer geometry models as more "artificial." But stylized geometric models of cornrows are quite traditional to Africa. As we can see in this traditional Mende sculpture: Mathematics is also a traditional part of African hairstyles.

"While hair straightening techniques greatly accelerated after the civil war, children’s hair continued to be a location where the cornrow tradition could be carried on. Little girls received their first simple pigtails or cornrows at Mother's or Grandmother's knee. Brushing, oiling, and braiding the hair encouraged it to grow.

Even with the invention of the straightening comb in the early 1900s, school girls had their hair braided and adorned with bangs, barrettes, ribbons, or clothespins. Only on Sundays or special occasions did younger girls wear their hair loose and curled with hot irons; this hair style requires daily maintenance unsuited to the activities and schedules of either children or their hair.

In the 1950s, the revolts against colonialism in Africa and the stirrings of a new cultural politics in America inspired alternatives to straightening techniques. South African women in the 1950s were wearing a natural or “bush” style, and Jackson (2000) notes that the Afro begins to appear among Black artists, intellectuals and activists in the mid-1950s.d-working mothers (Peters 1990)."

Byrd and Tharps describe how Odetta, Nina Simone, Abby Lincoln and others “embraced natural hair and traditional African cornrowed styles” in this era (p. 54). The Afro makes an appearance in Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play “A Raisin in the Sun,” and received broader exposure in a Look magazine article on Miriam Makeba in 1960.

In 1962 Cicely Tyson appeared on the television series “East Side West Side” wearing cornrows. By 1969 Black Power was in full swing, and African-roots style had become a mass movement. As the Afro began to wane in the 1970s, cornrows were on the rise. In yet another trend-setting television appearance in 1972, Cicely Tyson wore intricate Nigerian braids. Jackson reports that during this time several professional stylists conducted research on Africa braiding techniques through museums, and Malikia, best know as Stevie Wonder’s stylist, made a trip to Africa for that purpose.

West African immigrants also brought braiding style techniques to the U.S. in the 1970s. As hip- hop emerged as a predominant Black cultural movement in the 1980s, the philly cut became its best-known hairstyle _expression among men, while in women’s 1980s styles weaves were receiving the most attention.

In the 1990s hip-hop artists from Ludacris to Lil’ bow-wow could be seen with cornrows, and stylists continued to develop new innovations in cornrow braiding, best known from celebrity styles like those of basketball star Allen Iverson. The complex geometric emphasis in new cornrow styles—perhaps reflecting cultural priorities similar to the Afro-futuristic movement—is again an important reminder that math is as much a part of African heritage as Black hair.



Byrd,Ayana. And Tharps, Lori L. Hair story: Untangling the roots of hair in black America. New York St. Martins press 2001.

Jackson,Kenell ”Whats really happening here? Black hair in African Americans and in American culture. “In Roy Sieber and Frank Hereman (eds), Hair in Africa ,Art and Culture. Prestell: New York 2000

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