THE BOOKS
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Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America (St. Martin's, 2001) by Lori L. Tharps & Ayana D. Byrd. You can read some of the news and reviews for this fascinating book about the culture and history of Black hair here.
Naked: Black Women Bare All about their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips,and Other Parts. Edited by Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon (Perigee,2005). Tharps penned an essay about her changing relationship with her body through pregnancy in this riveting collection of essays. You can read more about it here.
BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine. Edited by Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler (FSG, 2006). Check out Tharps' essay, "The Black and The Beautiful," a well-researched rant on the dearth of Black female characters on mainstream television in this collection of articles collected from the best of Bitch magazine.You can read all about it here.
THE ARTICLES
Once upon time Lori Tharps was an Entertainment Writer. You can read most of the stories she wrote for Entertainment Weekly magazine here.
As of 2001 Lori Started Writing Parenting, Lifestyle and Travel Stories:
Featured in Essence: The Real Deal on Spanking
Featured in Essence: Promoting Positive Body Image in African-American Girls
Featured in Essence: Two Single Moms Join Forces to Become Homeowners