Grandassa Models were a part of a Black is Beautiful movement started by Kwame Brathwaite and Elombe Brath which centered on natural Black beauty. They attracted

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

females who represented their standards of "Black is Beautiful" and were part of the

Black is Beautiful Black is beautiful is a cultural movement that was started in the United States in the 1960s by African Americans. It later spread beyond the United States, most prominently in the writings of the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko in ...

movement from 1962 to 1979. The Grandassa Models were a part of the "Miss Natural Standard of Beauty Contests" based in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, New York City and were hosted each year on

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African ...

Day, August 17.

History

The original Grandassa Models were Clara Lewis, Black Rose, Helene Nomsa Brath, Priscilla Bardonille, Mari Toussaint, Esther Davenport, Wanda Sims, and Beatrice Cramston, and Jean Gumbs. Members wore their hair naturally, which was considered taboo in the 1950s, and represented a range of body sizes and skin colors.

“It was revolutionary. During that time – the 1950s and 60s – it was unacceptable to wear your hair in any natural hairstyle. The point that was being made was that you can be your natural self and be proud of who you are, and not accept another person’s standard of beauty as your own.” - Kwame Jr., Kwame Brathwaite's son and Director of Archives for the Kwame Brathwaite Archive

Further, AJASS was “invested in a body positive movement that celebrated the thick, curvaceous bodies of Black women at a time when ultra-thin models Twiggy and Jane Shrimpton were the body type du jour in the high fashion industry,” says Dr. Tanisha Ford, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History at the University of Delaware. “These women were saying no, we want to embrace our curves. We want to embrace our full noses, our full of lips.” Models designed and made their own clothes and worked exclusively with Black beauty businesses.

The African Jazz-Art Society & Studio

The African Jazz-Art Society & Studio (AJASS) was formed in 1956 by a group of young African American artists, designers, musicians, hairdressers, writers, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

enthusiasts. It was initially called the Jazz-Art Society and was later remained the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios. Organizers included Elombe Brath, Kwame Brathwaite, Robert Gumbs, Afrank Adu, Chris Acemandese Hall, David K. Ward, Ernest Baxter, and Jimmy Abu Williams producing jazz concerts, art exhibitions, and cultural events. The concerts featured many artists that later become renowned, such as

Lou Donaldson Lou Donaldson (born November 1, 1926) is an American retired jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop ...

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

Gigi Gryce Gigi Gryce (born George General Grice Jr.; November 28, 1925 – March 14, 1983), later Basheer Qusim, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, and educator. While his performing career was relatively short, ...

Johnny Griffin John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of ...

, Cannonball Adderley, Hank Mobley,

Junior Cook Herman "Junior" Cook (July 22, 1934 – February 3, 1992) was an American hard bop tenor saxophone player. Biography Cook was born in Pensacola, Florida. After playing with Dizzy Gillespie in 1958, Cook was a member of the Horace Silver Quin ...

, Art Taylor,

Philly Joe Jones Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Early career As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He wa ...

, Betty Carter,

Leon Thomas Amos Leon Thomas Jr. (October 4, 1937 – May 8, 1999), known professionally as Leon Thomas, was an American jazz and blues vocalist, born in East St. Louis, Illinois, and known for his bellowing glottal-stop style of free jazz singing in the ...

Wilbur Ware Wilbur Bernard Ware (September 8, 1923 – September 9, 1979) was an American jazz double bassist.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 674. Oxford University Press He was a regular bassist for t ...

, and others. The organization was influenced by Carlos A. Cooks, leader of the African Nationalist Pioneer Movement (ANPM) which developed out of

UNIA ''Unia'' ( en, Dreams), released on 25 May 2007, is the fifth full-length studio album by the power metal band Sonata Arctica, following the album ''Reckoning Night''. The first single from the album was " Paid in Full", released on 27 April 2007 ...

Naturally 62

In January 1962, the African Jazz-Art Society & Studio and Grandassa Models gave a fashion show was in the basement of Harlem night club, Purple Manor, on East 125th street. The show was called "Naturally 62" and one of the first to feature amateur models. In the early sixties, African Americans wore their hair pressed to straighten by a

hot comb A hot comb (also known as a straightening comb or pressing comb) is a metal comb that is used to straighten moderate or coarse hair and create a smoother hair texture. A hot comb is heated and used to straighten the hair from the roots. It can b ...

whereas the models' hair was natural and they had dark skin. The Naturally shows were created to develop racial pride, African culture, poetry, art, and standards of beauty. AJASS shows traveled to colleges and universities in the United States of America and produced with

Abbey Lincoln Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known professionally as Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. She was a civil rights activist beginning in the 1960s. Lincoln made a career out of deli ...

and

Max Roach Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He work ...

. They were also a part of the Black Arts Movement, along with Larry Neal,

Ed Bullins Edward Artie Bullins (July 2, 1935November 13, 2021), sometimes publishing as Kingsley B. Bass Jr, was an American playwright. He won awards including the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and several Obie Awards. Bullins was associated with ...

, and Leroy Jones (later Amiri Baraka) that created theater in Harlem. Ann Tripp, News Director for the

Steve Harvey Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. Also aired August 16, 2015. (born January 17, 1957) is an American television host, producer, actor, and comedian. He hosts '' The Steve Harvey Morning Show'', '' Family Feud'', ''Celebrity Family Feud,'' the Miss ...

Show and WBLS/WLIB Radio, is quoted as saying "they were forerunners of the natural hair movement... We tried to make black people feel proud of who they were, no matter what complexion or hair type." AJASS continued to hold "Naturally" beautiful shows regularly thru and 1980s, and then ten year anniversaries until 2002. In 1963 AJASS created The Black Standard Publishing Company. They published two booklets; "Naturally '63 Portfolio, and later in 1963 "Color Us Cullud", the AJASS theater company. On September 22, 2018 in Harlem, the Elombe Brath Foundation and the Harlem Arts Alliance presented a tribute to the Grandassa Models, as the pioneers of the "Black is Beautiful" movement.

References

External links

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Grandassa models, Naturally 62 & the Business of Black is {{sic, Beautif, ull, nolink=y
African Americans in New York City African-American female models African-American cultural history Harlem African-American hair Afro-textured hair