Every society, culture and ethnic group worships their beautiful people. As well all know, in the mainstream west, beautiful is often believed to be white, eurocentric and thin. In the age old narrative of black women seeking to see their own beauty in magazines, film and on television screens, Coal Crown Creative has taken matters into their own hands. "Classically Beautiful “The Discussion”" hosted by Jasmine Mans (genius poet-scholar behind Footnotes For Kanye) explores the themes of black beauty, black womanhood and motherhood through the lenses of melanated queens. Screenwriter Amma Asante also graces the film with her interpretation of classic beauty.
When asked why Quest (visionary behind "Classically Beautiful") created the documentary, he had this to say, “After hearing about a New York Times journalist, who referred to Viola Davis as less ‘Classically Beautiful’ than Kerry Washington, I felt it in my spirit to do something, to say something. I thought to myself, ‘here is another attempt to divide and conquer’, it saddened and angered me. My feelings towards this issue were very natural, I grew up the only boy. I have two sisters. My younger sister is of a darker complexion than my oldest sister. Sharing the black woman's perspective, to me, means having representation of the many aesthetics that black women represent.”

Touché Quest. And representation is exactly what you’ll get in this thought provoking yet amusing piece because, every black woman has her own story and personality. If you’re looking to be enlightened & lit, check it out below!

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Poet Kush Thompson's poem "For Colored Girls Who Considered Yaky" is an ode to all black girls who've felt the need to change their natural coils.

Last year, New York Times writer Alessandra Stanley described Emmy winning actress Viola Davis as “less classically beautiful” compared to other Black actresses. This comment sparked outrage within the Black community and director Quest decided to do something about it.

"Pretty" is an ongoing weekly documentary web series from Antonia Opiah, the founder of Un'ruly which features the series. In in, black women from all over the world explore standards of beauty in a social and cultural context.

"To be woman and to be black is to born knowing your beauty does not belong to you," Crystal Valentine says in this spoken word performance with Aaliyah Jihad titled "To Be Black and Woman and Alive", centered on dismantling the type of cultural beauty appropriation that has black men devaluing black traits on black women while praising them on others.

Black women have long known the struggle of finding "nude" clothing and accessories that actually match our skin tones. We have never understood why colors that would be more accurately titled "pale beige" or "cream" should be accepted as the default skin color for everyone. Well, leave it to BuzzFeed to hilariously show what it's like to be a Black woman wearing "neutral" (read: neutral for fair-skinned people) clothing and makeup.

Mothers are often our first teachers, and we learn to model their behaviors early. The lessons on self-love and beauty they pass down affect us early.