Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section24/Ned Davis

Overview

Ned Davis was an African American salon owner that owned a chain of salons called Gypsy Beauty Shops in the south during the 1930s. He gave an interview for the Federal Writers' Project in 1939.

Early Life

Ned Davis was born in Darlington County, Hartsville, South Carolina on August 13th, 1897. He spent his childhood living with his father, a sharecropper, after his mother passed. Davis was enrolled in school, but could not make it past third grade. Most of his childhood involved working small jobs for slave-owners across South Carolina. When Davis had grown, he would work in the fields as a sharecropper alongside his father. Davis left the house shortly thereafter and worked a variety of jobs including a cooking job and several servant jobs before he began working at a hotel as a bellhop.

Adult Life

Davis found his wife, Ora Lee Springs, at the hotel he was working for. They were promptly married on the front porch of her house and had a child the following year. Davis and May moved to West Virginia; Davis got a new job as a dining room waiter, while Springs began to take beauty courses. Springs shared her passion for beauty with Davis, and in response he took interest in beauty culture as well. She fell ill shortly after their move and died after a few months due to a lack of medical treatment and the inability to diagnose Springs' illness . Davis remarried six weeks later to Mildred Kennedy. Davis's passion for hair care and beauty grew as he began making hair products to sell to African American women as a side-business. When he had earned the money to afford a salon, he opened his own called Gypsy Beauty Shop for African American women in Gastonia. Davis, in 1933, earned his business license, making him one of the first African Americans to receive a business license in the state of North Carolina. Several salons were eventually opened under Davis across the state.

Social Issues

African American Beauty Standards for Females

African American beauty standards have been an important topic in cultural discussions for decades. With the prevalence of modern American beauty standards beginning in the 20th century, African American women were viewed as having opposing features to the common trends. It has been a hot topic in American culture recently, especially as the BLM movement has ramped up. Beauty standards are ever-changing, and recent decades' consideration of beauty has shifted to be more inclusive of African American traits, such as curly hair, African hairstyles, curvier body styles and bigger lips. However, these traits that are slowly beginning to receive more appreciation were once used against African Americans in American films. Characters in Star Wars who are meant to be seen and perceived as aliens were given traits that one would associate with black features. These aliens were given large noses and lips, and even spoke in "Caribbean-style English."

African American women have been the focal point of critique throughout American history; they have had to fight for appropriate representation in media in America, as Hollywood and social media culture have always shown a preference towards Caucasian women and features. In 2014, 12.5 percent of all actors and actresses in Hollywood were black, out of a total of 26.9 percent of minorities total in Hollywood films. Modern movies and television shows are still lacking in diversity, even in the 2010s. In 2016, only 13.9 percent of leads in films were people of color; in theatrical films, only 31.2 percent of leads were females and minorities accounted for 20.2 percent of leads in television shows. While this is an improvement from previous years, these statistics represent a large inequality that still exists when it comes to representation in modern media. While African American women have been able to accomplish social movements leading to a raise in media representation and portrayal of African Americans, it is still important to recognize that there is not total equality yet.