Pittsburgh-born Kelli Shakur found her tribe while attending college. Growing up, most of the Black women and girls around Shakur were wearing their hair chemically straightened or with a weave. When Shakur attended Miles College in Birmingham, Ala., an HBCU, she found many women living a life free from chemicals and expensive weaves. She liked what she saw and was eager to follow suit.
"And I took the weave out, cut out all my perm, and had this itty bitty fro,” Shakur tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “So I went through the … never call it an ‘ugly stage’. I call it a growing stage."
To the non-Black population, this may not seem like much of a statement. But for a Black woman in America, to make this choice feels like a revolution.
Shakur returned to Pittsburgh with a new outlook, only to notice young girls experiencing these same insecurities about their hair.
"It really triggered me to my own trauma that I dealt with growing up," Shakur recalls. "And I said, ‘We need a space. We need something where we can gather and we can have these conversations.’"
This is when she created the FroGang Foundation. What started as a hashtag in 2016 became a movement and a nonprofit organization that unapologetically promotes, empowers, and encourages natural hair and Afros and the symbolic power they hold.
From the moment our ancestors were brought to this country, Black women were told there was something wrong with the way our hair naturally grew out of our heads. Laws, harmful hair rituals, and media campaigns were created, resulting in the ingrained belief that we don't measure up to the American standard of beauty.
Through FroGang, Shakur, with the help of Candace Walker and Crissy Stubbs, created a sisterhood that thrives upon representation and celebration. Though each woman is heavily involved with the organization, they each offer a specialty. Walker operates as the creative coordinator and wrote the official FroGang theme song. Stubbs leads the social and emotional learning and mediation.
"And then I'm me, I'm the mom," Shakur happily offers.
Through their weekly Successful Sister Sessions and various other community initiatives, FroGang focuses on teaching young Black girls to embrace their natural beauty. During the Sessions, the girls participate in workshops on hair care and leadership skills, cultural activities, and field trips, and prepare for upcoming community events, which include clean-ups, youth self-care days, and performances of the original FroGang theme song.
But most importantly, the Sessions provide a safe space for the young girls.
"People don't understand that Black people having their own spaces is a form of self-care," Shakur explains. "We just eliminate all the -isms, -schisms, and excuses and let them know this is a sisterhood. We give them expectations. There are certain words that they're not allowed to say in the space, like ‘nappy.’ We don't say nappy. That is a cuss word for FroGang."
FroGang also created The Black Doll Giveaway, described as “building positive representation and self-esteem” for Black girls through “gifting dolls who look like them.” The initiative began on Christmas 2017 as a community-wide doll drop-off challenge with meet-up locations in Homewood, The Hill District, and Beltzhoover. With an overwhelming response of donations from organizations, neighbors, and even Mattel, the drive now happens all year round, with Shakur giving dolls to little girls she comes across wherever she goes.
"If I see a little girl walking with her mom, I hop out and give her a doll," Shakur says. "I let her know that she's beautiful."
The FroGang website boasts that, so far, the organization has given away over 5,800 dolls.
As for 2024, FroGang has already started collecting and distributing COVID Care Kits. "So, we'll be doing a three-month initiative for the kids to come out and learn how to stay COVID-free," Shakur says. This will also include lessons on healthy eating, the immune system, and yoga and meditation.
Being pro-natural hair in no way indicates The FroGang wants to exclude those who don't choose that route. The goal is to educate, unify, and uplift Black girls throughout the city in a way that they learn to advocate for themselves.
FroGang Foundation. 201 Chalfont St., Beltzhoover. frogang.org
