Editing Cornrows (section)

== History ==
===Africa===
[[File:SMITH(1890) p211 JOHANNIS, KING OF ABYSSINIA.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Yohannes IV|Emperor Yohannes IV]] wearing traditional Ethiopian braids.]]
Cornrows originated in Africa,<ref name="cornrow noun" /> where they likely developed in response to the unique textures of African hair,<ref name=":14" /><ref name="White 1995">{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Shane |last2=White |first2=Graham |date=1995 |title=Slave Hair and African American Culture in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2211360 |journal=The Journal of Southern History |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=45–76 |doi=10.2307/2211360 |issn=0022-4642|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and have held significance for different cultures throughout recorded history.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2011-06-12 |title=History of Cornrow Braiding: African Orgins 1.d |url=http://www.ccd.rpi.edu/Eglash/csdt/african/CORNROW_CURVES/culture/african.origins.2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612120134/http://www.ccd.rpi.edu/Eglash/csdt/african/CORNROW_CURVES/culture/african.origins.2.htm |archive-date=2011-06-12 |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=ccd.rpi.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The evolution of cornrows - Reader's Digest |url=https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/the-evolution-of-cornrows |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=www.readersdigest.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dreadlocks {{!}} Hairstyle, History, Cultural Appropriation, & Locs {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/dreadlocks |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Early depictions of women with what appear to be cornrows have been found in [[Stone Age]] paintings in the [[Tassili Plateau]] of the [[Sahara]], and have been dated as far back as 3000 B.C. A similar style is also seen in depictions of the ancient [[Cushitic]] people of the [[Horn of Africa]], who appear to be wearing this style of braids as far back as 2000 B.C.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of African history and culture: Ancient Africa (prehistory to 500 CE), Volume 1 |publisher=Facts on File |year=2001 |isbn=978-0816044726 |editor=Willie F. Page |page=36}}</ref> In Nubia, the remains of a young girl wearing cornrows has been dated to 550–750 A.D.<ref>DeLongoria, M. (2018). Misogynoir:* Black Hair, Identity Politics, and Multiple Black Realities. ''Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies'', ''12''(8), 39-49 (40).</ref> Cornrows have also been documented in the ancient Nok civilization in Nigeria,<ref name=":3" /> in the Mende culture of Sierra Leone,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-06-12 |title=History of Cornrow Braiding: African Origins1.c |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612120129/http://www.ccd.rpi.edu/Eglash/csdt/african/CORNROW_CURVES/culture/african.origins.1.b.htm |archive-url=http://www.ccd.rpi.edu/Eglash/csdt/african/CORNROW_CURVES/culture/african.origins.1.b.htm |archive-date=2011-06-12 |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=ccd.rpi.edu}}</ref> and the Dan culture of the [[Ivory Coast|Côte d'Ivoire]].<ref name=":2" /> 

Women in West Africa have been attested wearing complex hairstyles of threaded or wrapped braids since at least the 18th century. These practices likely influenced the use of cornrows and headwraps (such as [[durag]]s) among enslaved Africans taken to the Americas.<ref name="White 1995" /> In Ethiopia and Eritrea, there are many braided hairstyles which may include cornrows or "shuruba", such as Habesha or Albaso braids, and Tigray shuriba.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Shine My Crown |date=2023-06-20 |title=Albaso Braids: Modern Ethiopian Braids & Hairstyles |url=https://shinemycrown.com/hairstyle/albaso-braids/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=Shine My Crown |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-04 |title=20 Ethiopian Hairstyle Ideas – Forever Braids |url=https://foreverbraids.com/ethiopian-hairstyles/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |language=en-CA}}</ref> Though such hairstyles have always been popular with women, Ethiopian men have also worn such hairstyles. In 19th century [[Ethiopia]], male warriors and kings such as [[Tewodros II]] and [[Yohannes IV]] were depicted wearing braided hairstyles, including the shuruba.<ref>{{Cite web |title=African Ghana Wall Mask, Woman with Braided Hair, Hand Carved Ebony. |url=https://www.roadshowcollectibles.ca/products/african-ghana-decorative-wall-mask-woman-with-braided-hair-hand-carved-ebony |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=Roadshow Collectibles}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Kiya |date=2019-04-16 |title=Returning to Roots: Braids Make a Comeback |url=https://ethiopianbusinessreview.net/returning-to-roots/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=Ethiopian Business Review |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Aning |first=Laurencia |title=A hair journey through time {{!}} Hair Journey with Laurencia |url=https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/laurenciaaning/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=blogs.brighton.ac.uk |via=University of Brighton}}</ref>

Cornrow hairstyles in Africa also cover a wide social terrain: religion, kinship, status, age, racial diversity, and other attributes of identity can all be expressed in hairstyle. Just as important is the act of braiding, which passes on cultural values between generations, expresses bonds between friends, and establishes the role of professional practitioner.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |title=History of Cornrow Braiding: African Origins 1.b |url=http://csdt.rpi.edu/african/cornrow_curves/culture/african.origins.1.a.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623170048/http://csdt.rpi.edu/african/cornrow_curves/culture/african.origins.1.a.htm |archive-date=2015-06-23 |access-date=2015-06-20 |publisher=Csdt.rpi.edu}}</ref><ref name=":14" /> Braiding is traditionally a social ritual in many African cultures—as is hairstyling in general—and is often performed communally, as White and White explain:

{{Blockquote |text=In African cultures, the grooming and styling of hair have long been important social rituals. Elaborate hair designs, reflecting tribal affiliation, status, sex, age, occupation, and the like, were common, and the cutting, shaving, wrapping, and braiding of hair were centuries-old arts. In part, it was the texture of African hair that allowed these cultural practices to develop; as the historian John Thornton has observed, "the tightly spiraled hair of Africans makes it possible to design and shape it in many ways impossible for the straighter hair of Europeans."<ref name=":14" /> }}

===Europe===
[[File:Reconstruction of the Lady of Brassempouy by Libor Balák, Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, The Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Research.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of Venus of Brassempouy by Libor Balák. Czech Academy of Sciences. Although this may be inaccurate due to Europeans having darker skin 23-29,000 years ago<ref>{{Citation |last=Carlberg |first=Andrea HanelCarsten |title=English:  History of human pigmentation in Europe. |date=2020-07-03 |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archaeogenetic_analysis_of_human_skin_pigmentation_in_Europe.jpg |access-date=2024-05-15}}</ref>|left|110x110px]]There have been a number of examples of European art and sculpture described as similar to modern cornrows,<ref name="White 2006" /> such as plaits, the melon coiffure and sini crenes.<ref name=":4" /><ref name="Witcombe3" /><ref name=":5" />

[[File:Female funerary statue (detail) (2nd cent. B.C.) at the National Archaeological Museum on 2 July 2018.jpg|thumb|Melon coiffure on Small Herculaneum woman, ca. 2nd century, [[National Archaeological Museum of Athens]].|165x165px]]

The oldest of these depictions are the statues known as the [[Venus of Brassempouy]]<ref name="White 2006">{{Cite journal |author=Randall White |date=December 2006 |title=The Women of Brassempouy: A Century of Research and Interpretation |url=http://blogimages.bloggen.be/evodisku/attach/166144.pdf |journal=Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=251–304 |doi=10.1007/s10816-006-9023-z |s2cid=161276973}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-30 |title=Echoes of the Past: Prehistoric Wonders in Southern France |url=https://francetoday.com/culture/art_and_design/echoes-of-the-past-prehistoric-wonders-in-southern-france/ |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=France Today}}</ref> and the [[Venus of Willendorf]],<ref name="Witcombe3">[http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfwoman.html "Woman from Willendorf"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005031914/http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfwoman.html|date=2007-10-05}}.  Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, 2003: "The rows are not one continuous spiral but are, in fact, composed in seven concentric horizontal bands that encircle the head and two more horizontal bands underneath the first seven on the back of the head."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Shaw Nevins |first=Andrea |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/856869915 |title=The embodiment of disobedience : fat black women's unruly political bodies |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-7391-5457-1 |location=Lanham, MD |oclc=856869915}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Shell |first=Ellen Ruppel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53434322 |title=The hungry gene : the inside story of the obesity industry |date=2003 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=0-8021-4033-5 |edition=1st Grove Press |location=New York |oclc=53434322}}</ref> which date between 23,000 and 29,000 years ago<ref>{{Cite web |title=The earliest artistic depiction of a hairstyle {{!}} New Scientist |url=https://www.newscientist.com/letter/mg23631540-900-15-the-earliest-artistic-depiction-of-a-hairstyle/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=www.newscientist.com |language=en-US}}</ref> and were found in modern day [[France]] and [[Austria]]. Whether these statues feature cornrows, another type of braids,  headdresses, or some other styling has been a matter of vigorous debate — most historians rule out cornrows, however.<ref name="White 2006" /><ref name="Witcombe3" /><ref name=":6" /> The Venus of Brassempouy is often said to wear a wig or a patterned hood,<ref name=":6">{{cite book|last=Lawson|first=Andrew|title=Painted Caves: Palaeolithic Rock Art in Western Europe|date=24 May 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-969822-6|page=47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kU-10lGjDYoC&q=Venus+of+Brassempouy+hood&pg=PA47}}</ref> while the Venus of Willendorf is said to be wearing [[plaited hair]] or a fibrous cap.<ref name="Witcombe3" />

Since the early 5th century B.C., Ancient Greek and Roman art shows men and women with a characteristic melon coiffure, especially in the "[[Aphrodite Areia#Origins|Oriental Aphrodite]]" tradition, which may be confused with cornrows.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Seated Nude Woman with "Melon Coiffure" |url=https://www.library.fordham.edu/digital/item/collection/Hist/id/655 |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=Fordham University Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Herculaneum Women |url=https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/herculaneum_women/index.html |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=The J. Paul Getty Museum}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2015-12-16 |title=Hairstyles in the Arts of Greek and Roman Antiquity |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15526158 |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings}}</ref> The traditional hairstyle of Roman [[Vestal Virgins]], the sini crenes, also incorporates two braids that resemble cornrows.<ref>{{Cite book |last=León |first=Vicki |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/879285569 |title=Working IX to V : orgy planners, funeral clowns, and other prized professions of the ancient world |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-8027-1862-4 |location=New York |pages=18 |oclc=879285569}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oldest Roman Hairstyle Recreated for First Time |url=https://www.livescience.com/26112-oldest-roman-hairstyle-recreated.html |website=LiveScience |date=9 January 2013 |accessdate=13 February 2019}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Ancient Roman Vestal Virgin hairstyle re-created for very first time |url=https://gizmodo.com/ancient-roman-vestal-virgin-hairstyle-re-created-for-ve-5975123 |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=Gizmodo |date=11 January 2013 |language=en-us}}</ref>

===Americas===
The first recorded use of the word "cornrow" was in America in 1769, referring to the corn fields of the Americas. The earliest recorded use of the term "cornrows" to refer a hairstyle was in 1902.{{efn|"Alice hunted up faithful old nurse Calline at once, sure of overflowing black motherly sympathy. She found her perched on the railing of the back gallery, combing her hair in long 'corn-rows'."
''Century Magazine'', October 1902, 966/1.}}<ref name="cornrow noun" /> The name "canerows" may be more common in parts of the [[Caribbean]] due to the historic role of [[Sugar plantations in the Caribbean|sugar plantations]] in the region.<ref name="Mensah20202"/>

As in Africa, grooming was a social activity for Black people on the [[Plantation complexes in the Southern United States|American plantations]]; the enslaved Africans were reported helping each other style their hair into a wide variety of appearances. On his visit to a plantation in [[Natchez, Mississippi]], New Englander [[Joseph Ingraham|Joseph lngraham]] wrote, "No scene can be livelier or more interesting to a Northerner, than that which the negro quarters of a well regulated plantation present, on a Sabbath morning, just before church hour."<ref name=":142">{{Cite book |last=White |first=Shane |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7591/9781501718083/html |title=Stylin': African-American Expressive Culture, from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit |last2=White |first2=Graham |date=1999 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-1808-3 |place=Ithaca, NY |pages=37–39 |language=en |doi=10.7591/9781501718083 |access-date=2024-10-28}}</ref> Hairstyles were so characteristic of a person, even when their appearance and behaviour was otherwise heavily regulated, that they were often used to identify [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|runaways]], and enslaved Africans sometimes had their hair shaved as a form of punishment. Generally, however, slaveholders in the British colonies gave their Black slaves a degree of latitude in how they wore their hair.<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=White |first=Shane |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7591/9781501718083/html |title=Stylin': African-American Expressive Culture, from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit |last2=White |first2=Graham |date=1999 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-1808-3 |place=Ithaca, NY |pages=40–1 |language=en |doi=10.7591/9781501718083 |access-date=2024-10-28}}</ref> Thus, wearing traditional hairstyles offered a way to assert their [[Bodily integrity|bodily autonomy]] when they otherwise had none.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Susannah |date=1999 |title=Stylin': African American Expressive Culture from its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit. By Shane White and Graham White (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1998. xv plus 301pp.) (Review) |url=https://academic.oup.com/jsh/article-lookup/doi/10.1353/jsh.1999.0077 |access-date=2024-10-28 |website=Journal of Social History, Volume 33, Issue 2, Winter 1999 |pages=483–5 (483) |doi=10.1353/jsh.1999.0077}}</ref> 

Enslaved Black people may have chosen to wear cornrows to keep their hair neat and flat to their scalp while working; the other styles they developed alongside cornrows blended African, European and Native American trends and traditions.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |title=History of Cornrow Braiding: Middle Passage 2.b |url=http://www.ccd.rpi.edu/Eglash/csdt/african/CORNROW_CURVES/culture/middle.passage.1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612120144/http://www.ccd.rpi.edu/Eglash/csdt/african/CORNROW_CURVES/culture/middle.passage.1.htm |archive-date=2011-06-12 |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=ccd.rpi.eduvvv}}</ref> African-American, Afro-Latino and Caribbean folklore also relates multiple stories of cornrows being used to communicate or provide maps for slaves across the "New World".<ref name="Irbahim" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Anangonó |first=Pablo Tatés |last2=Moreno-Montoro |first2=María-Isabel |date=2024-09-30 |title=Pelo negro y dramaturgia: sentir, pensar y politizar el pelo negro mediante dos piezas cortas de teatro |url=https://revistaselectronicas.ujaen.es/index.php/RTC/article/view/9203 |journal=Tercio Creciente |language=es |pages=111–138 (115) |doi=10.17561/rtc..9203 |issn=2340-9096|doi-access=free }}</ref> Today, such styles retain their link with Black self-expression and creativity, and may also serve as a form of political expression.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Jaima |first=Felicitas R. |date=2017-09-02 |title=When things get hairy: afros, cornrows, and the desegregation of US military hair salons in West Germany |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17528631.2017.1363477 |journal=African and Black Diaspora|language=en |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=269–280 |doi=10.1080/17528631.2017.1363477 |issn=1752-8631|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Chapman |first=Yolanda |date=2007-11-28 |title="I am Not my Hair! Or am I?": Black Women's Transformative Experience in their Self Perceptions of Abroad and at Home |url=https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/23 |journal=Anthropology Theses |doi=10.57709/1059174}}</ref>

Cornrows gained in popularity in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, and again during the 1990s and 2000s. In the 2000s, some athletes wore cornrows, including NBA basketball players [[Allen Iverson]], [[Rasheed Wallace]], and [[Latrell Sprewell]].<ref name=":0">{{cite book |author=Sherrow, Victoria |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofha0000sher |title=Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2006 |isbn=9780313331459 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofha0000sher/page/97 97] |url-access=registration}}</ref>  Some female mixed martial artists have chosen to wear cornrows for their fights as it prevents their hair from obscuring their vision as they move.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-23 |title=For Professional Fighters, Hairstyles Can Make the Difference Between Winning and Losing |url=https://www.allure.com/story/professional-fighter-hairstyles-braids |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=Allure |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-11-20 |title=Michaela Angela Davis on the Power of Protective Hairstyles |url=https://www.allure.com/story/protective-styles-meaning-history-michaela-angela-davis |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=Allure |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dsalita |date=2023-11-08 |title=why do female mma fighters have cornrows |url=https://www.dsalita.com/mma/why-do-female-mma-fighters-have-cornrows/ |access-date=2024-03-01 |website=Dsalita Boxing |language=en-US}}</ref>