0:00:00.794,0:00:03.301
You don't really look[br]at a toothbrush and say,

0:00:03.325,0:00:04.476
"I'm great!"

0:00:04.500,0:00:07.337
But when you look at an Afro pick,[br]which is a grooming tool,

0:00:07.361,0:00:09.612
it can remind you in your[br]subconscious to, like,

0:00:09.636,0:00:12.446
really be proud and, like, "All right."

0:00:12.771,0:00:14.003
[Small thing.]

0:00:14.305,0:00:16.177
[Big idea.]

0:00:18.255,0:00:21.652
An Afro pick is a utilitarian tool

0:00:21.676,0:00:25.526
used to maintain the Afro hairstyle.

0:00:25.550,0:00:28.017
I think the Afro pick was designed

0:00:28.041,0:00:30.480
for the ergonomics of creating something

0:00:30.504,0:00:33.241
that felt like you were running[br]fingers through your hair.

0:00:33.265,0:00:36.571
The shape, even the depth[br]that it goes in -- it's like a hand.

0:00:36.595,0:00:39.957
You have plastic or nylon teeth,

0:00:39.981,0:00:43.197
and then you have the stainless[br]steel or the nickel teeth.

0:00:43.221,0:00:45.444
I always prefer the metal tooth

0:00:45.468,0:00:47.172
just 'cause I like the sound

0:00:47.196,0:00:50.660
and the ones I know have[br]the black power fist on the handle.

0:00:50.684,0:00:52.860
When I think of black hair in America,

0:00:52.884,0:00:55.310
I think of something that's been policed.

0:00:55.334,0:00:57.940
Back in the days, it was[br]expected for black people

0:00:57.964,0:00:59.628
to chemically treat their hair.

0:00:59.652,0:01:03.821
Whether that's healthy for them[br]is a secondary thing to blending in.

0:01:03.845,0:01:07.302
In the 50s, dancer Ruth Beckford[br]and a lot of jazz singers

0:01:07.326,0:01:09.211
were tired of straightening their hair,

0:01:09.235,0:01:12.412
so they said, all right,[br]we're going to just let it grow naturally

0:01:12.436,0:01:15.296
and started rocking natural,[br]close-cropped hair.

0:01:15.320,0:01:18.330
And in the 60s, that style evolved

0:01:18.354,0:01:20.080
with the formation of the Afro,

0:01:20.104,0:01:23.233
which was the cropped hair,[br]natural, picked out

0:01:23.257,0:01:25.990
into a more spherical shape.

0:01:26.014,0:01:30.829
You had civil rights leaders, activists,[br]that adopted the hairstyle

0:01:30.853,0:01:33.682
as a means of rebellion and black pride.

0:01:33.706,0:01:35.771
And then you had musicians[br]like James Brown,

0:01:35.795,0:01:38.941
who was infamously known[br]for chemically straightening his hair,

0:01:38.965,0:01:40.490
reject that and go natural.

0:01:40.514,0:01:42.258
It went hand-in-hand with his music,

0:01:42.282,0:01:45.156
so he had songs like[br]"Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."

0:01:45.180,0:01:46.911
The black is beautiful movement

0:01:46.935,0:01:49.874
is just rejecting the notion[br]that to be black

0:01:49.898,0:01:53.493
or to have darker skin,[br]to have a curlier grade of hair,

0:01:53.517,0:01:55.660
was something to be ashamed of.

0:01:55.684,0:01:58.161
I have one of my favorite[br]pictures of my mother

0:01:58.185,0:01:59.473
and my grandmother,

0:01:59.497,0:02:01.882
and my grandmother had a small 'fro,

0:02:01.906,0:02:03.560
and that was in the 60s.

0:02:03.584,0:02:07.610
African hair combs date back to 3500 BCE.

0:02:07.634,0:02:12.445
The oldest African combs are found[br]in ancient Egypt and Sudan,

0:02:12.469,0:02:15.137
so they were making pyramids and combs.

0:02:15.161,0:02:18.198
The way the ancient African[br]combs were embellished

0:02:18.222,0:02:21.662
represented status or tribal affiliation.

0:02:21.686,0:02:26.144
It's no coincidence that the fist[br]on the modern Afro pick

0:02:26.168,0:02:28.691
also sets the tone for affiliation

0:02:28.715,0:02:30.754
and what set you claim.

0:02:30.778,0:02:32.994
And then there's the Black Power movement.

0:02:33.018,0:02:35.128
Most movements need their icons, right?

0:02:35.152,0:02:37.470
You have the fist, you have the 'fro.

0:02:37.494,0:02:40.178
These things coincide with[br]the Black Panther aesthetic,

0:02:40.202,0:02:42.808
where you could kind of[br]spot your tribe from afar,

0:02:42.832,0:02:45.881
because you're not just keeping[br]a pick in, like, your beauty kit.

0:02:45.905,0:02:47.435
It's in your back pocket,

0:02:47.459,0:02:49.830
purposely with the first[br]outside of it,

0:02:49.854,0:02:52.228
and in your hair,[br]you'll rock it in your 'fro.

0:02:52.252,0:02:54.163
If I think about iconic Afros,

0:02:54.187,0:02:56.449
I definitely think about Angela Davis.

0:02:56.473,0:02:59.527
Her 'fro personifies elegance, style,

0:02:59.551,0:03:01.310
freedom, rebellion.

0:03:01.334,0:03:03.190
You feel all of these feelings at once

0:03:03.214,0:03:06.470
when you see Angela Davis[br]fighting for her life in federal court.

0:03:06.494,0:03:10.052
By the 80s, the Afro style[br]became less radical.

0:03:10.076,0:03:12.547
The Afro picks are still[br]produced to this day

0:03:12.571,0:03:13.722
with the clenched fist,

0:03:13.746,0:03:15.687
so it's the remnants of the movement

0:03:15.711,0:03:17.508
in the everyday object.

0:03:17.956,0:03:20.690
When I was young, it was[br]just, like, another object.

0:03:20.714,0:03:21.907
It was a comb.

0:03:21.931,0:03:24.147
But as I became more enlightened

0:03:24.171,0:03:26.627
to really understand[br]the roots and the origin

0:03:26.651,0:03:29.219
and the intentionality of the design

0:03:29.243,0:03:31.996
and why the fist[br]and all of these things ...

0:03:33.479,0:03:34.924
I woke up.