Even as Black hair was becoming increasingly political, many Black consumers continued using relaxers and began complaining that their scalps were being burned and their hair was thinning and breaking because of the harshness of lye-based relaxers. In 1975, the Federal Trade Commission demanded that Johnson put warning labels on lye-based products. By the mid-1980s,…
After former President Donald J. Trump was kicked off Twitter in 2021, conservative entrepreneurs rushed to promote social media alternatives tailored to him and his supporters. There were Parler and Gab, Twitter-like sites popular among the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Then came Gettr, a social media app created by one…
Before the war and during the Occupation, Arletty and Chanel were part of an extraordinary social set from across the arts and political spectrum. Right-wing and antisemitic views dominated the politics of this group. The French journalist Boulos Ristelhueber reported in 1940 that Chanel had gone into “into a long tirade against the Jews” during…
The United States is supposed to be the land of opportunity. A place where all that a plucky individual needs is an idea and/or a skill and some elbow grease to shake up the world. Growing up is realizing that the American dream is largely a bliss that feels amazing until the 7:00 a.m. alarm…
