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These Philly students celebrated Black hair with a homegrown holiday. Here’s how Afro Day was born.

“Our hair isn’t wild, it isn’t crazy,” said Amia Harris, a 10th grader at Northeast High. “It’s beautiful.”

Northeast High School students walk the hallways of their school during Afro Day. Students at  Northeast High school marked a day to celebrate natural hair and all it means, personally and culturally.
Northeast High School students walk the hallways of their school during Afro Day. Students at Northeast High school marked a day to celebrate natural hair and all it means, personally and culturally.Read moreMIGUEL MARTINEZ / For the Inquirer

When Kadedra Mattis decided to rock her Afro, it was tough at first. Managing her gorgeous natural hair was easy, but managing others’ reactions to it, not so much.

Some people lodged food, or pencils, in her hair. Others made fun of it, calling it wild or kinky or unkempt.

But embracing her natural hair is incredibly empowering, Mattis said. So when she looked out at two dozen fellow Northeast High students gathered to celebrate their Black hair last week, she couldn’t help but smile.

“We feel comfortable with our authentic selves,” said Mattis, 16, a 10th grader.

Spurred by a conversation in teacher Keziah Ridgeway’s African American history class, Mattis and her classmate Amia Harris dreamed up Northeast’s first Afro Day, with several dozen students simply wearing their hair as is, then meeting up for a photo to commemorate it.

They traded stories of times they felt judged — when their families questioned their decision to forgo chemicals and go natural, when someone came up and touched their hair without permission, how it felt to be mocked at a camp of mostly white people for wearing a swim cap to protect their hair from chlorine.

Afro Day was about hair, but also about power, about community, and love.

“Our hair isn’t wild, it isn’t crazy,” said Harris, 15, also a sophomore. “It’s beautiful.”

Harmony-Spirit Morrison was so excited when she heard about Afro Day that she took her hair out of its braids to show off her full crown. Having so many classmates sport Afros and locs, braids and passion twists with her gave her a sense of comfort and belonging, she said.

“I like my hair, but I’m scared to wear it out sometimes,” Morrison said.

“You have to learn to love your hair, because if you don’t, who will? I used to be so insecure about my ‘fro. But now, I got too much confidence — y’all can’t stop me,” Harris said, laughing.

Northeast, with more than 3,300 students, is the city’s largest school and one of its most diverse, a place where students’ cultures are not just endured but celebrated, said students and Ridgeway, who helped the kids spread the word about the event.

“This makes me so happy,” Ridgeway said about Afro Day. “This is a neighborhood high school, and we have kids here doing amazing things, leading things. They are creating, and seeing things through.”