Why did Josephine Baker use lemon juice to lighten her skin? Who was the first black man to appear in a Hollywood love scene with a white woman? What was the significance of Muhammad Ali's boast, I'm so pretty? Why was Sidney Poitier an accidental sex symbol? Who was the first black woman on the cover of Vogue? What did Malcolm X have to say about black hairstyles? Is Michael Jackson really in denial of his blackness? What lies behind the blonde ambition of hip-hop's black-blondes Lil' Kim and Mary J. Blige? Is supermodel Alek Wek beautiful? Has black beauty finally come of age? These are just some of the many complex and controversial questions reviewed in this compelling and groundbreaking book.

From the days of the first African slaves arriving in Europe, to the evolution of cosmetic products and hairstyles, right through to the celebrities past and present who have represented the diverse array of styles, black beauty has been missing as a topic from the recordings of black experience - a cause without a portfolio.

Ben Arogundade has responded with an incisive, revealing and challenging account of the black aesthetic within Western culture. Focusing on the most significant icons of film, television, music, sport and fashion, from Billie Holiday to Denzel Washington, from Martin Luther King to Lauryn Hill, the text is accompanied by an anthology of diverse and compelling images, from early black Vogue covers, to the Black Panthers of the 196os and their Afros, right through to the hip-hop divas, models, and performers of the new Millennium.

preface 8

1 black is (not) beautiful 14

2 black n tan 28

3 black heat 36

4 black venus 48

5 black is beautiful 64

6 black is black 88

7 blacklash l02

8 painted black 120

epilogue fade to black 156

bibliography 170

index 172

illustration credits 174

acknowledgements 175