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pg. 57 or online here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/18/kwame-brathwaites-grandassa-models In the nineteen-sixties, the age of Ann-Margret and Jean Shrimpton, the photographer and activist Kwame Brathwaite co-founded a group called the Grandassa Models. (“Grandassa” is taken from the term “Grandassaland,” which the black nationalist Carlos Cooks had used to refer to Africa.) “We said, ‘We’ve got to do something to make the women feel proud of their hair, proud of their blackness,’ ” Brathwaite recalled. The models’ skin tones ranged from light brown to dark brown, and they had full lips, natural hairstyles, and a variety of body shapes. The above photograph is from a series in which the models wore Afrocentric fashions, their hair untouched by heat tools, against a variety of brightly colored backgrounds. The first monograph dedicated to Brathwaite’s work, titled “Black Is Beautiful” (a phrase that Brathwaite and the Grandassa Models helped popularize) will be released on May 1, 2019. —Tyler Foggatt Book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/159711443X/?tag=thneyo0f-20 In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, Kwame Brathwaite used his photography to popularize the political slogan “Black Is Beautiful.” This monograph―the first ever dedicated to Brathwaite’s remarkable career―tells the story of a key, but under-recognized, figure of the second Harlem Renaissance. Inspired by the writings of activist and black nationalist Marcus Garvey, Brathwaite, along with his older brother, Elombe Brath, founded the African Jazz Arts Society and Studios (AJASS) and the Grandassa Models (1962). AJASS was a collective of artists, playwrights, designers, and dancers; Grandassa Models was a modeling agency for black women, founded to challenge white beauty standards. From stunning studio portraits of the Grandassa Models to behind-the-scenes images of Harlem’s artistic community, including Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Miles Davis, this book offers a long-overdue exploration of Brathwaite’s life and work