0:00:00.031,0:00:02.538
You don't really look[br]at a toothbrush and say,

0:00:02.562,0:00:03.713
"I'm great!"

0:00:03.737,0:00:06.574
But when you look at an Afro pick,[br]which is a grooming tool,

0:00:06.598,0:00:08.849
it can remind you in your[br]subconscious to, like,

0:00:08.873,0:00:11.683
really be proud and, like, "All right."

0:00:12.008,0:00:13.240
[Small thing.]

0:00:13.542,0:00:15.414
[Big idea.]

0:00:17.492,0:00:20.889
An Afro pick is a utilitarian tool

0:00:20.913,0:00:24.763
used to maintain the Afro hairstyle.

0:00:24.787,0:00:27.254
I think the Afro pick was designed

0:00:27.278,0:00:29.717
for the ergonomics of creating something

0:00:29.741,0:00:32.478
that felt like you were running[br]fingers through your hair.

0:00:32.502,0:00:35.808
The shape, even the depth[br]that it goes in -- it's like a hand.

0:00:35.832,0:00:39.194
You have plastic or nylon teeth,

0:00:39.218,0:00:42.434
and then you have the stainless[br]steel or the nickel teeth.

0:00:42.458,0:00:44.681
I always prefer the metal tooth

0:00:44.705,0:00:46.409
just 'cause I like the sound

0:00:46.433,0:00:49.897
and the ones I know have[br]the black power fist on the handle.

0:00:49.921,0:00:52.097
When I think of black hair in America,

0:00:52.121,0:00:54.547
I think of something that's been policed.

0:00:54.571,0:00:57.177
Back in the days, it was[br]expected for black people

0:00:57.201,0:00:58.865
to chemically treat their hair.

0:00:58.889,0:01:03.058
Whether that's healthy for them[br]is a secondary thing to blending in.

0:01:03.082,0:01:06.539
In the 50s, dancer Ruth Beckford[br]and a lot of jazz singers

0:01:06.563,0:01:08.448
were tired of straightening their hair,

0:01:08.472,0:01:11.649
so they said, all right,[br]we're going to just let it grow naturally

0:01:11.673,0:01:14.533
and started rocking natural,[br]close-cropped hair.

0:01:14.557,0:01:17.567
And in the 60s, that style evolved

0:01:17.591,0:01:19.317
with the formation of the Afro,

0:01:19.341,0:01:22.470
which was the cropped hair,[br]natural, picked out

0:01:22.494,0:01:25.227
into a more spherical shape.

0:01:25.251,0:01:30.066
You had civil rights leaders, activists,[br]that adopted the hairstyle

0:01:30.090,0:01:32.919
as a means of rebellion and black pride.

0:01:32.943,0:01:35.008
And then you had musicians[br]like James Brown,

0:01:35.032,0:01:38.178
who was infamously known[br]for chemically straightening his hair,

0:01:38.202,0:01:39.727
reject that and go natural.

0:01:39.751,0:01:41.495
It went hand-in-hand with his music,

0:01:41.519,0:01:44.393
so he had songs like[br]"Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud."

0:01:44.417,0:01:46.148
The black is beautiful movement

0:01:46.172,0:01:49.111
is just rejecting the notion[br]that to be black

0:01:49.135,0:01:52.730
or to have darker skin,[br]to have a curlier grade of hair,

0:01:52.754,0:01:54.897
was something to be ashamed of.

0:01:54.921,0:01:57.398
I have one of my favorite[br]pictures of my mother

0:01:57.422,0:01:58.710
and my grandmother,

0:01:58.734,0:02:01.119
and my grandmother had a small 'fro,

0:02:01.143,0:02:02.797
and that was in the 60s.

0:02:02.821,0:02:06.847
African hair combs date back to 3500 BCE.

0:02:06.871,0:02:11.682
The oldest African combs are found[br]in ancient Egypt and Sudan,

0:02:11.706,0:02:14.374
so they were making pyramids and combs.

0:02:14.398,0:02:17.435
The way the ancient African[br]combs were embellished

0:02:17.459,0:02:20.899
represented status or tribal affiliation.

0:02:20.923,0:02:25.381
It's no coincidence that the fist[br]on the modern Afro pick

0:02:25.405,0:02:27.928
also sets the tone for affiliation

0:02:27.952,0:02:29.991
and what set you claim.

0:02:30.015,0:02:32.231
And then there's the Black Power movement.

0:02:32.255,0:02:34.365
Most movements need their icons, right?

0:02:34.389,0:02:36.707
You have the fist, you have the 'fro.

0:02:36.731,0:02:39.415
These things coincide with[br]the Black Panther aesthetic,

0:02:39.439,0:02:42.045
where you could kind of[br]spot your tribe from afar,

0:02:42.069,0:02:45.118
because you're not just keeping[br]a pick in, like, your beauty kit.

0:02:45.142,0:02:46.672
It's in your back pocket,

0:02:46.696,0:02:49.067
purposely with the first[br]outside of it,

0:02:49.091,0:02:51.465
and in your hair,[br]you'll rock it in your 'fro.

0:02:51.489,0:02:53.400
If I think about iconic Afros,

0:02:53.424,0:02:55.686
I definitely think about Angela Davis.

0:02:55.710,0:02:58.764
Her 'fro personifies elegance, style,

0:02:58.788,0:03:00.547
freedom, rebellion.

0:03:00.571,0:03:02.427
You feel all of these feelings at once

0:03:02.451,0:03:05.707
when you see Angela Davis[br]fighting for her life in federal court.

0:03:05.731,0:03:09.289
By the 80s, the Afro style[br]became less radical.

0:03:09.313,0:03:11.784
The Afro picks are still[br]produced to this day

0:03:11.808,0:03:12.959
with the clenched fist,

0:03:12.983,0:03:14.924
so it's the remnants of the movement

0:03:14.948,0:03:16.745
in the everyday object.

0:03:17.193,0:03:19.927
When I was young, it was[br]just, like, another object.

0:03:19.951,0:03:21.144
It was a comb.

0:03:21.168,0:03:23.384
But as I became more enlightened

0:03:23.408,0:03:25.864
to really understand[br]the roots and the origin

0:03:25.888,0:03:28.456
and the intentionality of the design

0:03:28.480,0:03:31.233
and why the fist[br]and all of these things ...

0:03:32.716,0:03:34.161
I woke up.