Gates- In the Kitchen Summary

The Kitchen : Stirring Black Consciousness

In the 1950s , the era when Henry Louis Gates was born 'hair ' has a reputation in the society . This reputation is what Gates wrote as distinguishing between the 'good ' and the 'bad ' or the 'ugly ' from the 'beautiful ' Aside from the colour segregation , the hair became a category for separation . The societal condition of the author 's childhood centred on fighting for equality to destroy this kind of segregation (Viteritti , 1999 ,

.3 ) and the Gates ' household do their own fight as well by means of hair straightening

p The 'kitchen ' which is referred to as the most stubborn kink symbolizes the very identity of the African-Americans ' crowning glory By straightening the `kitchen , it is viewed as a process of being equal to one physical aspect of the white society . The silky straight mane of Caucasians has been established as the good kind of hair . From the very purpose of achieving straight hair , it evolved into different processes resulting into various looks

Black celebrities have been noted to be models of hair trends . The celebrity status legitimizes the African-Americans ' movement of acceptance in the society . The hair products mentioned by Gates that were used by some black pop culture icons did portray that racial equality is highly pursued . The mere fact that hair products for African-American hair were being marketed , consciousness of having a black identity was at the same time being promoted

Although the results of hair straightening turned out to be the author 's as `stringy , that certain characteristic became the black identity of defining what a straight hair is for blacks . The `kitchen ' may have been an unwanted body part , but this became part of a drive for the equality that the African Americans wanted . No matter how kink or how straight

References

Gates , H (1994 . In the Kitchen . In The Norton Reader : an Anthology of Nonfiction (12th Ed , pp .323-328 .New York : W .W . Norton Company

Viteritti , J .P (1999 . Choosing Equality : School Choice , the Constitution and Civil

Society . Massachusetts : Brookings Institution Press...