If Black people do not feel comfortable coming to a shop, they will not return.
Michael Frazier, Frazier's Barber College, 2018)

How do we define the word, “narrative”? Merriam-Webster defines the word as “a story or account that is narrated“. Narrative is also described as an art or method in which stories are told. Most importantly, the art of narrative grants the narrator ownership over their personal story. Narratives are interwoven into the study of African-American history. African-American literature writer, Gayl Jones, asserts that the foundation Black literature stems from oral history. Her book, Liberating Voices: Oral Tradition in African American Literature, describes that modern African-American literature is returning to the original folkloric methods of building narratives. She describes Africana oral narratives as an “artistic sovereignty”. Therefore, the narrator is granted agency over their stories.

Historian, Michael Frisch, describes the validity of oral narratives. His book, A Shared Authority, challenges the reader to diverge from hegemonic methods of historical research. He describes that historical analyses often rely on an outsider perspective but fails to give merit to the historical subjects themselves. In explaining the divide between retrospect and oral history, he states that “it took me so long to realize that the dichotomy itself was the problem- the notion that the questions raised were ‘outside’ the discourse of history and could not be engaged, or advanced and reined, from within it.”

Shared authority, as described by Frisch, uses oral history to account for silenced voices. He states that “we need projects that will involve people in exploring what it means to remember, and what to do with memories to make them active and alive as opposed to mere objects of collection.” Therefore, granting agency over historical narratives from the bottom-up, diverges from top-down hegemonic scholarship. For example, this applies to African-American history because the agency of African people in American was stripped away through acts of colonialism and involuntary migration. For a long time, Black people had no shared authority over their narrative, and this continues to persist today. Shared authority must be threaded into framework of African-American humanism, therefore oral history was appropriate for my study of Black Barbershops in Houston’s Third Ward. I utilized interviews to support the foundation of this project, not only to remove a common superiority complex that occurs when studying human subjects, but to allow the interviewees to dictate their narratives.

Barber Talk is not a comprehensive history of the barbershops in Houston’s Third Ward. Rather, this project is an anthology compiled of narratives from Third Ward’s Black barbers. Barbershops in African-American communities are more than just places that provide haircuts. Barbershops are Black institutions. They are cultural hubs that provide information, economic opportunities, and overall health to their communities. These spaces, which are primarily occupied by Black men, serve as safe spaces where conversations are facilitated. Therefore, Black barbers effectively serve as therapists, financial advisors, and mentors in their communities.

Each chapter consists of unabridged narratives from barbers in the Third Ward. Over the course of four months, I conducted over one dozen interviews and observed several barbershops in the area during that time. This project will also be divided into three parts:

• Institutions of Redemption: These are narratives of how barbershops allow Black people to reconcile with themselves and their communities.
• Institutions of Empowerment: This is a compilation of stories detailing the financial mobility that Black barbershops grant in their communities.
• Institutions of Education: These are narratives of how culture, art, and history are foundational to Black barbershops.

As mentioned earlier, this project is not a comprehensive history of Third Ward’s barbershops. Instead, this is a qualitative study which utilizes oral histories and intuitive investigation. The interviews from some of Third Ward’s barbers were conducted over the course of several months. This was done in addition to several more years of experiential knowledge and investigation of Black barbershops. Before starting the interview process, a line of trust and credibility was established between myself and every person who shared their story. All interviews included in this project are unabridged. The transcribed responses were left unedited. Therefore, each interview is raw, uncensored, and written verbatim. The purpose of this is to give breath to their stories. I wanted story to contribute to the concept of Black institutions in their own way. The first few questions remain the same for most of the barbers. For example, each barber is asked about their personal journey to joining the barbering industry. Following this initial question, the barbers were given agency to speak their minds.As mentioned earlier, this project is not a comprehensive history of Third Ward’s barbershops. Instead, this is a qualitative study which utilizes oral histories and intuitive investigation. The interviews from some of Third Ward’s barbers were conducted over the course of several months. This was done in addition to several more years of experiential knowledge and investigation of Black barbershops. Before starting the interview process, a line of trust and credibility was established between myself and every person who shared their story. All interviews included in this project are unabridged. The transcribed responses were left unedited. Therefore, each interview is raw, uncensored, and written verbatim. The purpose of this is to give breadth to their stories. I wanted story to contribute to the concept ofBlack institutions in their own way. The first few questions remain the same for most of the barbers. For example, each barber is asked about their personal journey to joining the barbering industry. Following this initial question, the barbers were given agency to speak their minds.

Barbers were encouraged to respond with open ended answers and to provide as many details that they desired. Therefore, each interview uniquely contributes to the argument of Black barbershops as Black institutions. Only one customer was interviewed for this project, but most were observed. The purpose of this project is to assert the legitimacy of Black institutions from unfiltered conversations with the barbers who run them. These narratives differentiate in many ways to present diverse picture of these institutions. The barbers came from a wide array of experiences, age groups, and backgrounds, yet they contribute to their communities in different ways. For example, Craig Royal is a barber who also coaches for youth sports clubs. He’s also created mentorship programs in his community to instill values and social awareness to minority middle and elementary school boys. “We live in a society where men aren’t so readily available to us,” he stated. “Whether I’m mentoring someone who is six years old, or thirty years old, I will give them the same line of love. Ofcourse the amount of accountability and expectations are different in those two age groups, but I expect each of them to find their greatness. We are barbers, we are men, and we will lead you on the right path. There is no division along this line.” Another barber, Gerald Hawkins, shared that he enjoys his job because it enables Black men feel confident about themselves. “The most rewarding thing about being a barber is making your client feel good about themselves,”he said. “When that person wakes up and looks in the mirror, smiling, and walking out with confidence, that’s what I want.” There is no division.

Importantly, barbershops are spaces where the Black men feel safe. They are therapy centers for Black men and were historically some of the few institutions where Black men felt secure from discrimination. Quincy T. Mills’ book, Cutting Along the Colored Line, explains the socio-political safety nets that Black barbershops established during the Jim Crow era. His book states that “barber shops are locations of economic exchange, but they are also spaces that facilitate public discourse.” These spaces are town halls where Black people discuss current events. Today, wrongful police shootings have dominated discussions regarding human rights and politics in the Black community. Not enough conversations are being held cross-sectionally about this issue, but barbershops encourage discussions and debates on controversial topics. In a society where we’ve allowed our conversations to be dictated by social-media, barbershops are one of the last spaces in America where upfront discussions occur. Interestingly, Black men are not always in agreement about every topic discussed. However, barbershops sponsor environments where conversations are being encouraged, period. Admittedly, the Black Lives Matter movement influenced me greatly to pursue this project. Unfortunately, the importance of Black lives is something that must be explained. This human rights issue has been drawn along political lines, thus Americans must be convinced on why the lives of Black people matter. Therefore, one of the main purposes of this project is to present one of the trillion reasons why the health and stability of Black communities are important. Through barbershops, we find the answer to a debate that should not have to be debated, and confirmation about the importance of Black lives that should never be disputed. Barbershops are Black institutions that will help Americans understand Black men, which is the group primarily affected by police shootings in America. These narratives are not only historical, but they come with a human agenda. Allowing people to have agency over their stories gives them authority over their humanism, thus making the study of Black men in their communities less monolithic and more empathetic. 

This is Barber Talk.