Apartheid was a vicious form of segregation in the mid-to-late 90s, and the practice involved multiple ways to keep Black people separated from whites. There was one part of Apartheid that doesn’t get talked about enough.
Government officials in South Africa could typically classify someone’s race just by perception, but with the number of mixed-race children increasing, they were determined to come up with a test to uphold segregation, so they came up with the pencil test.
The pencil test involved putting a pencil through a person’s hair. If the pencil fell out when they shook their head, they were considered white. However, if the pencil stuck, they were classified as Black or colored. Not all Black people have the same type of hair texture, so some Black children were misclassified. Today our hair is still stigmatized.
Advertisements in recent years surrounding hair and beauty have been called out for making Black hair look unappealing and unkempt. But those ads are lies.
We know our hair holds immense power. It’s an extension of who we are and a reminder of where we come from. It’s important we embrace it – no matter the texture.