ABSTRACT
The Afro was a direct result of the American socio-political climate in the 1960s. It represented both a break with the integrationist civil rights movement led by organizations such as the NAACP and the Urban League and an aggressive assertion of black pride. A New York Times quote of a University of California Afro-American Students Union member in 1967 reflected the forces behind the Afro as well as campus revolts against a Western curriculum bias, enrollment quotas. The Afro came to prominence in 1968, stimulated by the examples set by celebrities such as Sly Stone and James Brown as well as the unqualified support of black power militants like the Black Panthers. The style, due in no small part to its high profile visibility on the wearer, became the most notable image of the black consciousness movement. It also became a linchpin of the Pan-African Renaissance along with articles of clothing like dashikis, bubas, djellabas, kaftans, and agbadas.
