The View from My Seat Observations & Viewpoints on the Netflix Miniseries “Self-Made”

As the Founding President of the Annie Malone Historical Society, I have spent a lot of time over the last several days monitoring responses to the recently released Netflix miniseries, “Self-Made.” I have read countless e-mails and online articles, fielded phone calls, received text messages, Facebook and blog posts, and discovered more about twitter and Instagram than I ever knew. Two things are clear. People have strong opinions and feelings about what and how information was presented in this miniseries. No matter if the people lived in the St. Louis community or out of it, the miniseries got a lot of people talking.

Pull Your Pants Up

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — The owner of Oakland’s Pull Up Your Pants Barber Shop is trying to change attitudes, one young customer and one saggy pair of jeans at a time. Some do men's health clinics in the barbershop, some do community cleanup and some even do free haircuts for back to school and book bag giveaways. Well, they are having a 'Belt Drive' for kids at Pull Up Your Pants Barber Shop, Oakland CA. Find a problem in the community and dedicate yourself toward solving it. That's social responsibility.

Little Known Black History Fact: Christina M. Jenkins

In 1951, Christina M. Jenkins submitted a patent “hair weave.” A former wig company employee, Jenkins created a new process of adding synthetic extensions by sewing hair onto cornrows. Similar to Madam C.J. Walker, she opened her own cosmetology school to teach others her technique. Christina Mae Thomas was born Christmas Day in 1920, although there are conflicting dates regarding her day of birth. She was born in Louisiana but details of her early life are scarce. What is known is that she graduated from Leland College near Baton Rouge with a degree in science in 1943. Jenkins started work at a wig manufacturer in Chicago and in 1949, she began working on a technique to make a more secure fitting wig. She then moved to Malvern, Ohio and began studying how sewing in commercial hair with a person’s natural hair added length and body. Thus in 1951, Jenkins filed a patent for her “HairWeev” technique, which was granted in 1952. Jenkins owned and operated her Christina’s Hair