Frizzy Hair in the White House

Luri Daniel-Favors

Inspired by his run for the White House, Going-Natural.com presented President Obama with a framed photo as a birthday present last year.
The photograph was the centerpiece of the exhibition titled “The Pursuit of Nappiness” and a crowd favorite of visitors to the prestigious Casa Frela gallery in Manhattan. The wide-brimmed, chic black frame shows a beautiful woman with a soft smile and a striking Afro. Lurie Daniel-Favors, the woman depicted, is more than just a beauty. While her full Afro enhances her exceptional natural beauty, her resume reflects her remarkable intellect. Lurie Daniel-Favors, a graduate of New York University School of Law, worked at a well-known New York law firm before opening her own office in Manhattan. In addition, she is a mother and advisor to a non-profit organization that empowers underprivileged youth.
Lurie's photo was taken at the International African Arts Festival in Brooklyn, New York by Mireille Liong-A-Kong, founder of going-natural.com and kroeshaar.com .
Fascinated by the strikingly beautiful hairstyles seen at African-American summer bazaars, Liong began photographing the unique hairstyles in 2004. Four years and hundreds of photos later, she successfully exhibited for a month in Manhattan, New York.
The portrait of Lurie was chosen as a gift for several reasons, according to Liong. First, Lurie is a beautiful woman who, with her Afro, represents frizzy hair almost unbelievably beautifully. The visitors of my exhibition felt a connection to this photo in particular, but there are also more historical and symbolic reasons for my choice. The Afro emerged from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and then dominated the fashion scene in the years that followed. It is the first hairstyle that black women could wear with pride after centuries of being told that frizzy hair was unacceptable.
President Barack Obama also emerged from a civil rights movement and will now dominate the political landscape for at least the next four years. As the first black president, Barack Obama has instilled in African-Americans a deeper sense of American pride that would have been thought impossible until recently. In the days of the first Afros, you would have been considered crazy to have predicted that the next generation would have a black president.
About six months after the birthday gift was sent, Liong received a thank-you letter from the White House, personally signed by First Lady Michelle Obama and her husband.