Valerie Lawrence
LITR 4332 2002
26 Nov 02

Journal of Barbershops in African American Culture

            Barbershops are quickly becoming a symbol of African American culture.  There are so many salons with gimmicks to bring in white males, such as Sport Cuts, that barbershops are increasingly aligned with African American culture. Mall culture had also helped bring this about.  Men have the convenience of getting their haircuts done in mall salons while their wives are doing their shopping.  Barbershops are not simply a place where a man can get a haircut and shave.  They are places where men can meet and talk. 

            Barbershops began in African American culture because of job discrimination that African Americans faced.  Many chose to begin their own businesses rather than deal with the discrimination.  Barbering became one of the more elite professions that an African American could have.  The barbershops became a center for the men of the community.  Journalist Charles Rowell describes the barbershop as “a vernacular university with an invisible library” (Rowell) It was place where they could congregate and discuss the town’s news of the day.  There was also another aspect to the barbershops that the men of the town enjoyed.  Many barbers opened up a “back room” where men could come to gamble.  The barbers would ensure themselves a portion of the money, so they made more money when they operated an illegal back room. Men congregated in barbershops so often that in 1934, Ohio passed a law, which was later repealed, which forced barbershops to close their doors on Sundays as an attempt to keep men in church.  Dan Foster of Diversity in Business gives three reasons why men go to barbershops

            1) They can speak their mind on just about any subject they choose;

2) They can expound on that subject for as long as they choose, or for as long as those in the shop will allow; and

3) They can be assured of a response, which might include a redirect to a more appealing topic.

            (Foster)

            Along with being a place to congregate, barbershops have also recently begun to offer sources of information and help to the communities.  Recently in Pittsburgh, Dr. Richard Jennings set up a blood pressure gauge in the back of a local barbershop.  He offered free blood pressure checks to the patrons of the barbershop and offered them free care if their blood pressure was found to be abnormally high.  Also, in Akron, Ohio, barbershop patrons were offered free blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and stroke screenings. Medical information dispensed through barbershops is becoming more common. Doctors discovered that they could reach more people in a barbershop than they could in a local church.   In many communities, pamphlets on various diseases and medical conditions are being distributed to the communities through the barbershops. Since many people depend on all of their news and advice coming from their local barbershop, the medical community decided that the best way to reach them was to go to the barbershops.  By this, they have been able to get this information to many people who would not otherwise actively seek it.  So far, these programs have been pretty successful and many people are now undergoing treatment for various conditions that they were not aware existed.  The Center for Minority Health in Pittsburgh is soon hoping to create a program where local barbers and beauticians are taught enough about medicine that they will be able to give good medical advice to their customers.  This way, their customers will be getting factual advice from someone that they are familiar with and know they can trust.   It is interesting that barbers are becoming knowledgeable about medicine, because barbers were surgeons at one time.  That’s where the blue and red striped barber pole came from.  The blue and white pole had been the barber pole and the red and white striped pole had been the surgeons’ pole.  However, barbers started becoming surgeons and the two poles were mixed letting people know that he was a surgeon as well as a barber.  So it is really amazing that modern day barbers, while not surgeons, will at least be able to give medical advice to their patrons. 

One African American man who chose to become a barber during the days of Jim Crow laws faced a different kind of adversity with his barbershop.  Ralph W. Johnson opened a barbershop that was a “Whites Only” barbershop.  Although he did very well for himself financially by doing this, he also alienated himself from his community.  He turned away other African American customers, and was forced to the outside of his community.  Once the Civil Rights era came about, the liberal students from a nearby college who had formerly been his patrons picketed him.  His business and his house were also burned down during this time.  It is sad that he used his skill for his own economic benefit rather than helping his community.  The white patrons who used to be his customers turned against him in a completely deplorable way.  He could not then ask for help or comfort from his own community because he had turned his backs on them by opening an all white barbershop and adhering to Jim Crow laws which kept his own community locked out of it. 

Barbershops also had a style of music named after them.  The barbershop quartet first came about from African American harmonies.  Many barbershops at the turn of the century had their own barbershop quartets.  The term for this type of music came about from a song called “Play that Barbershop Chord” in 1910.  It seems strange today that the few barbershop quartets that are around are predominantly made up of white males.   This is because once barbershop music was recorded and became popular, the companies began promoting the white barbershop quartets.   It actually was erroneously recorded in history books that barbershop quartets first came about in white culture.  This error has only recently been identified and changed to show the true historical makers of barbershop music.

.              Although the recent movie “Barbershop” has been the topic of many conversations lately, it is certainly not the first film that explores the cultural aspects of barbershops.  African American barbershops depicted in film first came around in 1912.  The film was called “The Barber”.  An African American man named William Foster who managed to break into the predominantly white business of filmmaking produced it.  It was the third feature that he produced with an all African American cast.  It showed an African American barber and barbershop.  That is pretty much all that is known about the film.  There are no surviving prints of it that have been found.  It was one of the first films of the time that was about African Americans that was produced by an African American and the cast was made up of African Americans rather than white actors in blackface.

            Another movie which depicts barbershops as a place to talk is “Coming to America” with Eddie Murphy.  He not only plays the lead character in the movie, but also one of the barbers and a Jewish man who likes to congregate in the barbershop with the barbers.  Arsenio Hall plays the other barber.  The barbers give haircuts and dispense advice to Eddie Murphy’s character of the African prince, Hakeem.  Although he is out of place in New York, the prince feels comfortable in the barbershop.  It is the only setting in the movie where all the characters in the scene are comfortable.  What is interesting in this film’s depiction of the barbershop is that it includes a white Jewish patron.  It shows the kinship that is often illustrated between the African American and Jewish cultures. 

            There have also been two short films made about barbershops.  Prominent African American filmmaker, Spike Lee, produced a film while still a student entitled, “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads”.  Award-winning independent producer William Graves recently produced a short film called “(Just Doin’It) A Tale of Two Barbershops.”, which tells the story of two inner city barbershops. 

            The recent movie “Barbershop” has stirred up a lot of controversy in the months since it’s release.  The general plot is about a man who inherits a barbershop, sells it, and then regrets his decision.  However, the main controversy over the film is about speaking freely in the barbershop.  The Reverend Al Sharpton has raised the question of how freely people speak in the barbershop.  His question focuses on a scene wherein the character of Eddie, played by Cedric the Entertainer depicts prominent members of the African American community in a derogatory way.  The dialogue is as follows:

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER, ACTOR: What I'm saying
to you is there's black people need to stop lying. There is three
things that black people need to tell the truth about.

One -- one, Rodney King should have got his (EXPLETIVE DELETED) for
driving drunk and being (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Two, O.J. did it. And,
three, Rosa Parks ain't do nothing but sit her black ass there.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Hey, I'm going to back you up on that because
he was on the bus back in the day and he's on the bus now.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Eddie, not only is what you're saying not true,
it's wrong and disrespectful for you to discuss Rosa Parks in that
way.

CEDRIC: Wait, wait, wait. Hold on here. Is this a barbershop?
Is this a barbershop? This is a barbershop, isn't it? I mean, we
can't talk straight in a barbershop, then where can we talk straight?
We can't talk straight nowhere else.

                        (Excerpt taken from O’Reilly Factor interview)

His character feels as though the barbershop is a place where he can speak his mind on whatever topic he feels like, even if it is offensive to others there. He also makes comments that are derogatory towards Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King, Jr. in later scenes. Even though this takes place in a movie, in real life, people have found this dialogue offensive.  In an interview with Bill O’Reilly, the Reverend Al Sharpton denounced this scene.  Saying that, “if you say this is how we talk in a barbershop, it's interesting to me that they only talk about black leaders and black figures. I don't know any barbershop in a black community in this country that you wouldn't also discuss whites that are in political life.”(O’Reilly).  However, there is another viewpoint that has been taken on this scene.  In the same interview, Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson has the viewpoint that the scene was just comedy.  He also counters Al Sharpton’s statement about barbershops by saying, “I would expect to go into a black barbershop in South Central Los Angeles, in Harlem, or the south side of Chicago, and I would expect most of the conversation to, in fact, center on blacks, black leaders, black communities..” (O’Reilly).

            Aside from the controversy that has stemmed from the movie, the movie does its best to depict life in a barbershop.  The actors in the movie have had their own experiences with barbershops in their culture.  They also have their own viewpoint on speaking freely in barbershops. Ice Cube who plays the lead character of Calvin in the movie says that, “in the black community, barbershops are a place where black people get to hang out and express themselves with no worries.” (Robertson).  This is reiterated in the last lines of the above dialogue from the movie.  Cedric the Entertainer has also discussed the barbershop as a country club for the black man saying that, “It's the place where you feel like you belong. There's no golfing, but you know you're a member. You can sit, chat and feel at home. It's a main cornerstone of the African- American community.” (Longsdorf). The barbershop for African Americans is like the neighborhood bar for the dominant culture.  It seems like the sitcom “Cheers” except people are getting haircuts instead of beer.  Plenty of offensive things get said in bars during happy hour.  Right or wrong, people need to vent.  The bar seems to be the place for white males to do it, and the barbershop is the place for African American males to do it.  So, while the dialogue is offensive, it should be able to be spoken in a barbershop because it is where people speak freely.  Also, as Dr. Hutchinson pointed that the other characters in the movie did not allow the character of Eddie to get away with his comments.  They called him on it, and told him it was disrespectful.  It’s a barbershop; Eddie can say what he wants to and the other guys present can disagree with him if they want to.  No one gets angry, there is no violent fighting about it, because they are in a barbershop.  If they had been anyplace else it very well could have gotten violent, but he is able to speak his mind without hurting anyone because of where he is.  The dialogue is, after all, in a movie.  If it had been spoken in real life in a barbershop, and possibly has, no one outside of that shop would even know about it.  The offensive scenes should not be cut from the movie because that would ruin the important aspects about barbershops that the movie is trying to get across.  After the character of Calvin sells his barbershop, he realizes how important that the barbershop is to the community.  Even though there is some offensive dialogue, it helps bring about the feeling of community that exists in this barbershop. 
            A recent sociological study done on a barbershop in the south explores a barbershop that is located in a heavy crime ridden area.  The researchers spent several weeks gathering information from the proprietor of the shop.  He and the other barbers try to help turn the children of the community away from crime.  They give the kids little odd jobs to do in the shop believing that, “What happens is, if you let a kid work for his money, so he can buy his candy, ice cream, cookies, or whatever he wants, he won’t have to take things.” ( Wright and Calhoun 275).  They try to use different kids so that each child who wants to work will have a chance to.  The barber also became the legal guardian of one of his patrons when the young man had an accident and could no longer take care of himself.  The young man now works in his shop doing some of the same types of jobs that the children do.   So the barbershop is not just a place for conversation, but it is also helping the children of this community learn about working for money.  The barber is trying to keep kids away from the streets and the drug dealers, which is admirable.  Many disadvantaged children in America have been able to go to college because of scholarships that local barbershops have provided for them.  So the barbershop is not just a business and a gathering place for men.  It is also the center of the community in many cases.  Mothers know that their children are okay and that someone is looking out for them if they are in the barbershop.  For young boys who do not have contact with their fathers, it is a place where they, for better or worse, can get male bonding. 

            Barbershops are such a large part of the male African American culture because beauty shops are a large part of the female African American culture.  In white American culture, men get their haircuts taken care of in a mall salon while women are doing their shopping.  It is a matter of convenience.  The men can avoid shopping and get their hair cut, and women can shop and avoid complaints from the men about shopping.  However, in the African American culture it is different.  In many communities, there is a beauty shop across the street from the barbershop.  The men congregate in the barbershop and the women congregate in the beauty shop.  Beauty shops serve the same purpose for African American females as the barbershop does for African American males.  Except at the beauty shop, the women are talking about men.  Sometimes the places will converge if there is a particularly important issue in the town.  Then the women will often drift over to the barbershop so that the community as a whole can discuss the issue.

            A lot of local NAACP chapters have also been started in barbershops.  Recruiters have visited the barbershop in hopes of getting local chapters started.  Many of these chapters have been successful.  This gives the barbershop another place in their community as a community action group.  They hold the meeting for their local chapters in the barbershop and discuss important issues where they can make changes in their community. 

            Barbershops are seeing a resurgence of popularity in recent years.  Hopefully the movie will help bring about more interest in barbershops.  In the early and mid-1990’s there was a serious decline in barbershops.  More barbershops were going out of business than were staying in business.  The younger generations did not find the barbershops as a cool place to go, so the barbershops were losing the younger customers.  However, recently the younger generations have begun frequenting barbershops again.  This is a really good thing because barbershops seem to be the glue that keeps the community together.  Besides, as Eddie in “Barbershop” says, “We can’ talk straight nowhere else”(Barbershop, 2002).  This is such an important part of African American culture and it needs to be preserved. 

Works Cited

“Barbershops”. Birmingham-Pittsburgh Traveler. March 2000.15 Nov 2002.            http://www.northbysouth.org/2000/Beauty/barshops.htm

Robertson, Gil. “A Trim and a Chat.” Los Angeles Times. 8 Sept 2002. 02 Nov 2002.            <http://ktla.trb.com/entertainment/news/cl-ca-robertson8sep08,0,7716315.story>

Charles, Tom. “Commissioner Wilson Kicks Off Special Utility Choice Consumer Education Outreach to Pittsburgh Barbershops, Public Housing” 28 Aug 2002. 08 Nov 2002 <http://puc.paonline.com/ press_releases /Press_releases. asp?View =            PressReleasePR_ID=875.>

Perkins, Dan. “Barbershop fails to make the cut” 21 Sept 2002. 08 Nov 2002.            <http://www.diversityinbusiness.com/dib20209_Film_BarberShop.htm>

Lenoir, Lisa. “The Barbershop” Chicago Sun Times 08 Sept 2002. 08 Nov. 2002.

            <http://www.suntimes.com/output/lifestyles/sho-sunday-barbershop08.html>

Longsdorf, Amy. “Cedric the Entertainer” Philadelphia Weekly. 11 Sept. 2002

            11 Nov 2002. <http://www.brainsoap.com/archives/article.asp?ArtID=4213>

Snowbeck, Christopher. “During Shave and Haircut, Doctor get a Chance to Visit” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 25 Sept 2002. 11 Nov 2002. <http://www.post            gazette.com/healthscience/20020925barbers7.asp>

Williams, Samantha. Summa Program Aims To Improve Minority Health With Grass Roots Approach. 12 March 2002. 06 Nov. 2002.            <http://www.summahealth.org/new/releases/grass_roots.html>

Lyne, Greg.  Tutorials in Barbershop Harmony. 01 Aug 2001. 11 Nov. 2002

            <http://www.spebsqsa.org/Tutorials/TutorialOne.htm>

James, Hunter, “David Played a Harp: A Free Man's Battle for Independence (review)”             Southern Cultures – 8.1 2002

Rowell, Charles H., "Beyond the Hard Work and Discipline": An Interview with Leon Forrest.  Callaloo – 20.2

Wright II, Earl, Calhoun, Thomas C. “From the Common Thug to the Businessman: an Exploration into an Urban African American Barbershop” Deviant Behavior. 22.3 pg. 270-292 (2001)

O’Reilly, Bill “Interview with Al Sharpton and Dr. Earl Ofari Hutchinson” The O’Reilly Factor. (Fall 2002)

Coming to America. Dir. John Landis. Perf. Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall. Paramount, 1998.

Barbershop. Dir. Tim Story. Perf. Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer. MGM, 2002

Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films. New York: Continuum, 1997.