Figure 1.--This photograph taken in the early 2000s shows the short hair styles that have become popular. The Black player has dreadlocks a style that has proven popular with a small number of boys.
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Figure 1.--This photograph taken in the early 2000s shows the short hair styles that have become popular. The Black player has dreadlocks a style that has proven popular with a small number of boys. |
Dreadlocks are the trade-mark style of Rastafarians, a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. The hairstyle is referred to as dreadlocks or dreads. It is worn by blacks and is hard to achieve without the kinky hair which many blacks have. It is so named because so the hair is left uncombed until it "locks". It was adopted by Rastafarians when they noted photographs of Ethiopian tribesmen. Dreadlocks have proven to be an issue at some schools which banned the style. This not only has occurred at schools with largely White student populations, but also at schools with black staffs and students. Here policies havde varied from country to country. They are strictly banned in Cuba, but beconing increasingly accepted in other Caribbean countries and the United States. Some see it as a basic matter of good groming. Others see such regulations as an example of the "petty tyrannies" that boys, but not girls,
have to endure. One newspaper article sees it as an ironical example "... of a black principal of a virtually all-black school taking extreme action against a hairstyle that originated among blacks. [Ebbin] Some Bermuda schools required boys who wear dreadlocks to cover their hair. Many schools do not specifically ban dreadlocks, but requires boys' hair to be off the ears and above the collar. Another issue is that Rastafarians wear dreadlocks for religious reasons. The style has become increasingly accepted in recent years. American entertainers like Whoopi Goldberg and Bobby McFerrin wear dreadlocks and the style is sometimes noted among Black professionals, especially in liberal environments like universities.
Ebbin, Meredith. "Dreadlock deadlock: Schools can't agree on whether or not they should tolerate dreadlocks," Bermuda Sun, September 20, 1996.
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