Cutting Along the Color Line

"In Cutting Along the Color Line, Quincy Mills offers an unprecedented assessment of the complexities of black barbers and barbershops in nineteenth- and twentieth-century America."—N.D.B. Connolly in Enterprise & Society

"Quincy T. Mills's important book provides fascinating insight into the history of African American barbers. He vividly captures their culture, traditions, and perseverance to succeed against tremendous odds. A brilliant overview of this prestigious tradition."—Zariff, barber to President Barack Obama

"Cutting Along the Color Line is a singular achievement. Quincy Mills has taken a familiar institution, the neighborhood barbershop, and revealed an unknown history that utterly transforms our understanding of what we thought it was. Unpacking the economic, social, cultural, and political history of black barbering from slavery to the present contributes new insights to African American studies, American history, and black masculinities. Cutting Along the Color Line will have a permanent place on my syllabus."—Melissa Harris-Perry, Professor of Political Science at Tulane University and host of MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry

"Cutting Along the Color Line is a rich and illuminating study of the role of barbers and barbershops in African American life. Through meticulous research and nuanced historical analysis, Quincy T. Mills vividly depicts how barbers navigated Jim Crow segregation in ways that were sophisticated as well as politically and culturally powerful. This imaginative book deeply enriches our understanding of how African American entrepreneurs were critical agents in the fight for racial equality."—Suzanne E. Smith, author of To Serve the Living: Funeral Directors and the African American Way of Death