Black history, cut straight from the barber's chair

INDIANAPOLIS -- To be a good barber, it takes more than a steady hand and an artistic mind.

It takes concentration. It takes patience.

And as Dejuan Gee knows, it also takes a special insight into the customers who sit in the barber's chair.

"You meet a very diverse group of people. From different ethnicities, different backgrounds, different points in life," says Gee, who has been working as a professional barber in Indianapolis for nearly 20 years. "And everybody has something to share. Something you can take away with you."

The story of black hair-care professionals in Indianapolis is a long and colorful one, dating back decades. Sarah Breedlove, famously known as Madam C.J. Walker, brought her hair-growing business to the city as early as 1910. She grooming a fortune that, according to the company's website at madamwalker.net, made her America's first self-made female millionaire.

Those who have picked up the shears and comb since don't doubt the importance of what they do, nor the lives they've touched along the way. Some of them have begin charting their experiences and learning more about their history as professionals in the city.

Robert Moore, another black barber who has been working in the city for about 60 years, is behind the initiative. He gathered a group of barbers and beauticians recently to share stories at a Baha'i Center on the city's northwest side.

"It's sporadic with the history and dates," Moore says. "We're trying to capture some of the dates and some of the sure history."

One of the most prominent figures among the community is 85-year-old Owen Cheatham, who offers some clues as to how black barbers established themselves in the city. He became a certified barber in 1949. His shop, Cheatham & Moore, still stands today.

"There were a lot of barbers. But back then, it was pretty much localized in different communities, rather than now, (when) they're all over in malls and everywhere," he says. "But back then, the barbershops were located primarily in the communities."

Cheatham says his own struggle quickly became more than about just laying the foundations for a long-standing store. To unite the black barbers, he took part in founding the first black barber's union in Indianapolis in 1963 to improve working conditions.

"The great problem was finally getting away from the long hours," he says. "And the establishment of a fair price (for wages)."

Cheatham says the union accomplished its goals, setting standards for their industry. But that wasn't the only battle barbers had to face.

Carol Campbell knew she wanted to become a barber way back in 1959. Her only problem was her gender. "No one wanted a female barber," she says.

One barber eventually took a chance on Campbell, and took her into his shop.

"(The men) said, 'When Delilah cut Samson's hair, he lost his strength,'" Campbell says. "I did not know so many men read the Bible."

Eventually, Campbell settled into her profession, though she says it took about two years before the men allowed her to cut their hair. But the wait paid off — she was even asked to lend her name to a shop: Carol's and Everybody's Barber Shop.

"This was an honor to me," she says, "and I felt obligated to forever live up to this name."

There may be more black barbers and beauticians in Indianapolis than in the past, and it's clear that they don't face the same obstacles. But what hasn't changed is the feeling of obligation to the communities they serve.

"I just do what I do, and I do it to the best of my ability," says Valencia Hightower, a beautician working in Robert Moore's shop. "A client is not my client until they sit in my chair. I don't have this, 'This is mine, mine, mine; this is my client.' I don't feel that way. My goal, the goal of this business, is for the client to get their hair done and to get it done to their satisfaction by whoever does it."