In an empowering celebration of Black History Month, a mother and daughter teamed up to recreate photos of iconic black women.
Every day in February, Cristi Jones of Kent, Washington, has dressed her daughter, 5-year-old Lola, as an iconic black woman, helped her recreate a photo and shared the results on Twitter. Throughout the month, Lola has channeled modern women making history like ballet dancer Misty Copeland, civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks and more.
Jones told The Huffington Post that the most difficult part of the project has been narrowing down the list of people for Lola to dress up as, since she only recreates one photo per day.
“I tried to pick a diverse group with varied backgrounds,” she said. “I wanted to highlight their accomplishments, regardless of their personal or political views. She just needs to know how they affected the world, so I picked women that could teach her a lesson in some way.”
Lola’s own wardrobe has been helpful for most of the project, and when it wasn’t Jones turned to her mother’s clothes. Jones has also borrowed her husband’s glasses and used her own jewelry to perfect the looks of the black icons, and she bought two wigs and a few hats. Most of the photos were taken on Jones’ cellphone, but her friend, photographer Kayleigh Stefanko, took some to contribute to the project, too.
Jones said her daughter has been having fun dressing up and posing for the photos.
“She likes to get into costume, do hair and sometimes makeup, and in her words, ‘make their faces,’” she said.
Lola has especially enjoyed channeling Josephine Baker, Rosa Parks and Misty Copeland. When she dressed as Bessie Coleman, America’s first black female pilot, she didn’t want to take off her aviator hat.
Jones’ favorite woman Lola has transformed into has been civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer.
“Showing Lola her photo, and watching her expression transform before me, was almost unnerving,” she said. “She had an innate ability to channel the emotion of the women in the original photos.”
Throughout the project, Jones set out to empower her daughter and show her “strong, positive role models.” This photo series, though, is merely one way she has taught Lola about black history and the people who influenced it.
“We watch videos and movies, read stories, and talk about the contributions and struggles of those who came before us,” she said.
See more side-by-side photos of Lola and black icons below.
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H/T The Daily Dot
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