HAIR STORIES: UNTANGLING THE TRAUMA, TRESSES & TRUTH OF BLACK, AFRO-LATINA, AND MIXED- RACE WOMXN
Lyzette Wanzer
Thursday, April 13, 2023
4:30 p.m. — Book Talk , Campus Center West Boardroom (1st Floor)
7:30 p.m. — Celebration with Lyzette Wanzer and student performers, hosted by Kyra Gaunt, UAlbany music professor, ethnomusicologist, singer-songwriter, author, and activist. Recital Hall, UAlbany Performing Arts Center
Join us for a celebration of the culture and history of African American hair identity and fashion with writer, editor, and workshop instructor, Lyzette Wanzer. In the afternoon, Ms. Wanzer will discuss her new book, Trauma, Tresses, and Truth: Untangling Our Hair Through Personal Narratives (2022), selected by Library Journal as a "Best Social Science" book of 2022.
Ms. Wanzer will answer questions about the complexities of Black identity with respect to hair. As a San Francisco-based author-activist, she will also discuss the California law known as “The CROWN Act,” which prohibits discrimination based on hair style and hair texture.
In the evening, UAlbany Professor Kyra Gaunt will host an event with the author, as well as student poets, musicians and dancers. We will also screen Ayoka Chenzira’s 10-minute animation, "Hair Piece: A story for nappy headed people" (1984).
Cosponsored by the Department of Music and Theatre, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Intercultural Student Engagement, and the NYS Writers Institute.