Editing Cornrows (section)

===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>