Activist Zulaikha Patel says first book will reignite passion for black hair and African literature

Activist and speaker Zulaikha Patel hopes to empower young girls to embrace their natural hair and ignite a passion for African literature through her first book, My Coily Crowny Hair.

Patel started reading children’s books at the age of four years but was later discouraged because she couldn’t relate to the identities of the characters she read about.

“When I was a child, this didn’t sit well with me because when I opened children’s books, I came across stories that were not of my African reality. They were stories about little girls with blue eyes, blonde hair and fair skin. That was not how my African reality looked like,” she told TimesLIVE.

The story centres on seven-year old Lisakhaya who is encouraged by her mother and grandmother to love her hair, something Patel drew from her personal childhood experience.

Patel, whose father is Indian and her mother black, was insecure as a child and endured bullying and discrimination. Her mother and grandmother were constant assuring figures who helped her navigate her younger years.

“Growing up in an interracial family and not having hair like my father’s made me very insecure as a child because we could never be seen publicly without questions. There were always uncomfortable and derogatory statements passed but I had my mother to remind me my hair is beautiful,” she said.

“You can be an engineer, a speaker, a teacher or even a president. With your hair, you can be anything you want to be,” reads a line from the book that assures young girls they don’t need to assimilate to Eurocentric beauty standards to succeed or be accepted.

“I want a young black girl child to understand her capabilities are not limited by her physical appearance but are enhanced when she is confident and owning who she is,” she said.

Patel was 13 when she shot to prominence during the 2016 antiracism protests at Pretoria Girls High School, where she demanded the right to wear her Afro hairstyle.

“I found myself in unbearable conditions in which I was no longer able to breathe  and I found myself with no other choice but to resist,” she said about the protest.