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19
Oct
Tina's book marks Black History Month in Ripon
The Little Ripon Bookshop is hosting a special event on Wednesday (October 23) to celebrate Black History Month.
Tina Shingler’s book Hair Apparent – A Voyage Around My Roots will be introduced by the author who grew up in Ripon and went on to work in government communications both in the US and Italy and later for many years in the UK.
She told the Stray Ferret:
Growing up in Ripon in the ‘50s and ‘60s as a mixed-race kid wasn’t always easy.
I had a loving foster home, but overwhelmed by the complex texture of my hair, my foster-mother simply cut it back, so that I remember always feeling that I looked like a boy among a lot of pretty girls.
More than my hi-vis skin colour, it was my unusual hair that drew attention and it was ‘up for grabs’ as people, young and old, couldn’t resist touching it to find out for themselves what it felt like. As a child my hair became my quiet shame, yet it went on to define and inspire the woman I am today.
The Little Ripon Bookshop
Described as an ‘inspirational hairmoir’, Hair Apparent tracks the history of the author’s afro hair as a metaphor for personal transformation as well as a canvas to reflect the changing cultural and political landscapes at home and abroad.
Part travelogue, part memoir and part social history, Hair Apparent weaves stories from personal experience in the UK, the US, Italy, Scandinavia and India to create a captivating narrative that is both poignant and joyously uplifting.
Ms Shingler, said:
In this Black History Month, it’s worth remembering that history hasn’t always allowed black people to take a rightful pride and joy in their natural hair which has long been weighted with negative implications.
Today the hair on our head means so much more than style and fashion; it’s part of a cultural inheritance embracing the history of generations who came before us and made a vital contribution to the wealth of the Western world with terrible personal sacrifices.
Today we are seeing a new cultural confidence displayed in black hair culture which reflects changing attitudes in both black and white society.
At the Ripon event, which starts at 7pm. Ms Shingler will talk about her inspiration for the book and some of the wider cultural issues it embraces.
Tickets can be purchased in The Little Ripon Bookshop or online.
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