Lesson Plan: Learning Through the Curls: How Hair Culture Can Expand Science and Social Studies

Abstract

Learning Through the Curls: How Hair Culture Can Expand Science and Social Studies Rasheda Likely (bio) Marginalization of Black Women in Science Learning Historically, Black girls have experiences at distinct intersections that have impacted their interest and persistence in STEM disciplines due to separation, erasure, disinterest, isolation, and irrelevance.1 Western science, particularly, has been extremely harmful to Black women for centuries because of its dedication to whiteness and upholding oppression. The problem is such that Black women and girls have been harmed through science, erased from science fame, and pushed to the margins of science learning experiences. “Far too many Black women have labored in obscurity”2 and through physiological and psychological harm when trusting science. Black female patients who went to the hospital for medical treatment, like Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were stolen from her body and used for great science advancements like cellular response to space, the polio vaccine, and growing tissue culture3 without any compensation for her or her family. Patients like Fannie Lou Hamer and 150,000 other Black women who were given hysterectomies and sterilized unnecessarily and unknowingly.4 Enslaved Black women Anarcha, Lucy, Betsy, and the nameless others on whom J. Marion Sims, M.D., practiced unanesthetized vaginal procedures that led to his being named the “father of gynecology.”5 Entrepreneurs such as Madam C. J. Walker who developed and sold Black hair care products were not considered scientists.6 Even today, Black women engage in additional, often uncredited, labor such as being a physician and role model7 or science professor and mentor,8 as well as general other-mothering9 throughout their careers. Lastly, Black female STEM students report being mistaken for custodial and administrative staff in the hallways of research laboratories.10 These women and girls are the “unsung heroes of Black girlhood research in the STEM fields.”11 Not only are their stories important to the STEM field and science education, but these rich histories can expand social studies learning experiences. In an effort to move toward equity in education, how do we as educators center these untold stories? How might silenced narratives be amplified and canonized for science and social studies learning? The understanding and validity of a story are dependent on who controls the narrative.12 Therefore, to shift the narrative and cultivate “engaging learning environments for youth from historically marginalized communities, educators and education researchers must reimagine the ways in which youth are provided opportunities to engage.”13 My recommendation for shifting the systemic problem of the erasure of Black women and girls and bridging science and social studies curricula through narratives is to center a cultural14 activity. Specifically, I believe that science and social studies learning experiences for minoritized [End Page 30] students can expand curriculum, instruction, and assessment using the richness of culture. The culture highlighted here is Black hair culture, since it recognizes the community developed, shaped, and connected through hair care techniques, tools, and materials. I argue that hair culture can be used as an effective catalyst for developing historical narratives around hair care and science learning experience, and ultimately Black women’s hair care culture can be canonized as part of science and social studies learning experiences. Culturally Responsive Educational Approach Using Hair Care Scholars suggest that “hair care can provide a context and vehicle for attachment, nurturing, and positive self-worth.”15 By removing natural curls, coils, and kinks, Black women were able to remove culturally identifying markers to gain access to employment, decrease discrimination in social settings, define the beauty standard through modeling, and gain acceptance into predominantly white spaces. As such, many Black women and girls operate as kitchen beauticians, people who make, use, and supplement products using materials typically found in the kitchen, as they navigate hair care in childhood and adolescence.16 Today, Black girls and women have cultivated in-person and online communities of curlfriends for exchanging tips that work for particular hair types and textures, including making (Do-It-Yourself, DIY) and testing hair products. Hair culture is the community developed, shaped, and connected through hair care techniques, tools, and materials. Many of the practices and processes of kitchen beauticians are inclusive...