Reddit reviews Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats

https://www.amazon.com/Crowns-Portraits-Black-Women-Church/dp/0385500866/

Folks who are intentionally asking "What more can I offer God? How can I honor him in every part of my life?" are more likely to turn that attention toward their mode of dress. Lifelong Orthodox people may ask the same questions, of course, but it's a line of thought that is pretty common in folks newly entering into the life of the Church. And of course if you ask a monk, nun, or grandma, you'll likely be told that it's always been normal for women to wear something on their head in church.

If you look in pictures from the 1950s and earlier, practically all Christian women, regardless of denomination, wore a hat or scarf or whatever in church. That began to change in the early 60s. (I'm told when First Lady Jackie Kennedy began to be photographed at church without a hat it was deliciously scandalous – but as she was a fashion trendsetter, lots of American women imitated her. I wasn't around, so that's hearsay.)

Church hats aren't an entirely lost phenomenon: The delightful photo book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats is full of quotes from strong women who consider their hat an unquestionable aspect of church attire.

In some places, wearing a scarf used to be a cultural indicator that a woman was married. As society changed, it became more identified with church attire, and in pictures from Russia you'll even see toddler girls in scarvess. I have seen little girls delighting in the fat that they get to wear scarves in church, unlike boys, because it's a girl thing. Anything that makes girls glad to be girls is fine by me :-)

Then why do Catholics have head coverings that are optional? why do Eastern Orthodox women STILL cover their hair? What about Anabaptist's in America, like the Amish, Mennonites, etc. What about our early American women? Republican mother's wore bonnets. Your grandmothers wore hats to church. This is a really recent thing man. Black women STILL wear hats to church, at least among the older generation.

Here;s a book of pictures: https://www.amazon.com/Crowns-Portraits-Black-Women-Church/dp/0385500866

Here's a 1996 New York Times article about it: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/12/nyregion/in-defense-of-the-church-hat.html

I mean, don't pretend it's ancient history is all I'm saying. I'm just asking why most WASPs don't wear hats to church anymore, bar some VERY religious Catholics, and Anabaptists.

Also, Bible.org has four mainstream viewpoints on it, and only one accepts "hair as a covering" and it's the weakest one: https://bible.org/article/what-head-covering-1-cor-112-16-and-does-it-apply-us-today

1. The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel The first in a series, it's hilarious and FUN to read, it's about a detective who has to enter into the actual pages of Jane Eyre to prevent Jane from being murdered by a literary terrorist. It's great for the absurdists. If you like Terry Pratchett or Monty Python.



2. In the Realms of the Unreal: Insane Writings writings by schizophrenics in asylums in the early 20th century. Amazing, poetry that is heartbreaking and shows that even the least of us are human.

Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats Memphis white boy here who knows you do. not. ever. touch a black lady's hat.

3. David A Man Of Passion And Destiny Chuck Swindoll's whole Great Lives series is amazing. as an aside, I really like Chuck Swindoll's writing, but not a huge fan of his preaching. His preaching is never finished, he's in the pulpit and he's still mentally compiling things. But his books have this well researched "finished" flawlessness to them.

4a. I'd give an E-bible. I might app card for the NIV which is under copyright, but I'd most likely recommend the free ESV. I recommend having several, at least three bibles on each digital device you own - phone, ipad, backup phone, laptop. On the hard drive, not on the cloud, so if you are stuck in the desert without internet.

4b. Not sure of this, but I have an old old "Family" bible with pictures and maps that I was given by a preacher when I was 10 or 11. It's in large print, has maps (I am a sucker for maps) and there's plenty of space to write in it.

Anyways, that's my list.

Crowns

> Countless black women would rather attend church naked than hatless. For these women, a church hat, flamboyant as it may be, is no mere fashion accessory; it's a cherished African American custom, one observed with boundless passion by black women of various religious denominations.