My black is beautiful. The beauty lies within  wavy, curly even kinky texture hair.  It comes with multiple skin tones. Our beauty showcase some any different beautiful shapes. Black is beautiful.  Going to an historically black college university showcases the beauty of the African American race. The perception of beauty for blacks has been skewed by the American view.  Images and thoughts can mess up what is beautiful to black people. But beauty lives within the person’s personality and how they carry themselves.  Black people have over come so much as a people, we are beautiful because of our struggles. Black people are beautiful, therefore black is beautiful.

Beauty is a word commonly described as “in the eye of the beholder.”  After speaking to several people, they believed in the cliche phase. My aunt  believes beauty is a “beautiful person on the inside and out.” She also says “the ugliest on the earth  can be the most beautiful.” Even my grandmother, explains beauty comes from within,  “It is the love for people that makes you beautiful. “ A more mature generation sees  the true meaning of beauty. These beliefs were passed don towards my generation.

It was actually shocking not to hear a shallow perception of beauty from my peers.Beauty to young women all define beauty as something within. One believe it is about personality. Similarly, another thinks beauty is about inner beauty. Another girl  states, “beauty is undefinable.” All of these opinions are valid to the conversation of beauty in the black community. Acknowledging what beauty is in the black community gives a better understand of why black is beautiful.

Even beauty from a male’s view is similar to females’ views.  Beauty to a male is strictly for women. Most males I surveyed believed beauty is solely for women. My boyfriend  says, “beauty is a feminine word, you can call me handsome,” Another guys agrees by saying, “It’s not proper to call a boy beautiful.”  This is, however, a whole separate topic. My guy friend  defines beauty as a mental thing. He says, “beauty doesn’t have to be physical, it’s deep within.” One guy, “outer appearance is the first thing I see as beautiful but personality attitude and how she carries herself.” Male’s views of beauty gives more insight on beauty. 

Beauty within the black community is defined at a young age. In Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair,  it describes how his young daughters believe their hair was not beautiful because it wasn’t straight. Throughout the movie, Chris explains how so many black women wear weave and don’t view their natural  hair texture as beautiful. This movie, along with a few other factors made me decide to stop relaxing my hair.  This was my move towards embracing my beauty, my natural black beauty.

As a child beauty was long, silky hair, fair skin and slim women. But thankfully young women like Victoria,who is 15 doesn’t have the same views I once shared. She believes beauty is, “discovering what makes you, you and loving yourself.”  Victoria said it’s the personality that is most important.  When she was younger she thought beauty was about being pretty or cute. But  just two years  ago this whole image changed.  

The phrase black is beautiful is a saying that has been heard since the 1960s.  It’s even the title of a popular BET television show.  But why is black beautiful?  According to Victoria, black is beautiful because, “we stand out, so many different skin tones and we love who we are as a people.”  Some couldn’t really answer this question.  Yet my grandmother still says, “black is beautiful, white is beautiful, yellow, purple doesn’t matter what color they are, it’s beautiful.” 

Black people do have a confidence about them and a strong other races don’t. Perhaps this is past down because of our struggles in slavery to discrimination and so on. Beauty in the black community reaches deep. It reflects our heritage , our history and our future. Black is beautiful because we are unique people. Our shapes are different, our personalities are different, this is what sets the race apart from most.