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Soft Sheen: The Black-Owned Company That Helped Shape More Than Our Hair
If you grew up in a Black household during the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s, chances are Soft Sheen products lived somewhere in your home. Maybe it was a jar of Care Free Curl moisturizer sitting on the bathroom sink. A tub of Sportin’ Waves on your father’s dresser. A bottle of Let’s Jam keeping somebody’s…
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George E. Johnson Didn’t Just Sell Hair Products. He Sold Possibility.
A living icon has become an ancestor and his name was George R. Johnson. Every now and then, somebody leaves this earth, and you realize they weren’t just successful.They changed the damn landscape.George E. Johnson was one of those people. He didn’t build Johnson Products because it was trendy. Hell, back then Black folks weren’t…
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The Female Trickster: Outsmarting the Rules
History remembers kings, conquerors, and warriors. But tucked into the margins of myth, folklore, and history is another figure who refused to play by the rules—the female trickster. She rarely possesses armies. She seldom inherits kingdoms. She isn’t usually the strongest person in the room. So she becomes the smartest. The female trickster understands a…
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Lost
Today marks one month since you crossed over, and I still can’t believe you’re really gone. You were supposed to become the world’s oldest living cat, but your little body had other plans, boo. You really did us dirty with your lil’ funky ass. The house still feels different without you, but I believe you…
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The Everleigh Club: From Silk Sheets to Section 8
Chicago has always had a talent for reinventing itself. Sometimes it builds a skyscraper. Sometimes it tears down a brothel. And sometimes it tears down a brothel…and builds public housing on top of it. You really can’t make this stuff up. If you had wandered into Chicago’s Levee District around 1900, you would have found…
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Zina Garrison: The Trailblazer Who Helped Change Tennis
When people talk about the history of Black women in tennis, the conversation often begins with Althea Gibson and then leaps straight to Venus and Serena Williams. But between those eras stood a remarkable athlete whose contributions deserve far more recognition: Zina Garrison. Born in Houston, Texas, November 16, 1963, Garrison fell in love with…
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Hoard Park: Known as the Da Park
Tourists will never find Hoard Park in a guidebook. It doesn’t have Buckingham Fountain or the grandeur of Jackson Park. It’s just a small neighborhood park tucked away on 72nd and Dobson. But for me and my childhood friends, it was our treehouse. Long before I knew anything about urban renewal or city planning, I…
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A Requiem for Soul Survivors
The term soul survivor is often used to describe the last person left alive after a catastrophic event. But there is another kind of soul survivor—one rarely acknowledged. They are the people who become the last living member of their childhood family. The final witness to the laughter, the arguments, the holidays, the whispered secrets,…
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Whatever Happened to Honey Magazine? The Publication That Spoke to a Generation of Black Women
There are magazines you read, and then there are magazines that become part of who you are. For me, Honey was the latter. Founded by Kierna Mayo and Joicelyn Dingle, Honey debuted with a preview issue in 1999 featuring Lauryn Hill. It blended fashion, beauty, music, politics, relationships, and culture through a distinctly Black feminist…
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