The Inspirational Story Behind the Oscar-Winning Short, Hair Love

Representation and inclusion are two of the most important topics of conversation you can have with your little one. Often, we turn to children’s books to explain the importance of acceptance those who are different from us and the value of leading with love. One such book is Hair Love, published in May 2019 and written by former NFL player Matthew A. Cherry. He adapted the book into a short, animated film, and, over the weekend, that film won an Oscar.

Hair Love is an almost 7-minute film that shows an African-American father, Stephen, learning how to style his daughter’s hair. It starts off with an adorable young girl with a mop of curls named Zuri. She excitedly gets up and gets dressed before figuring out how to tackle styling her hair. The film shows her looking at beautiful hairstyles and remembering the ones her mom used to make for her, but she can’t figure out how to recreate them herself. After an adorable, but unsuccessful attempt, she goes to her dad for help.

Though her dad is equally perplexed by how to recreate the styles, he loves his daughter and uses a video Zuri’s mom made for help, eventually successfully recreating his daughter’s desired style. While the film uses very little dialogue, it speaks volumes through its animation of the love all parents, but, specifically black fathers, have for their children.

According to an interview with the New York Times in August of last year, Cherry wanted to see more representation in animated films, as well as combat negative stereotypes. “I wanted to see a young black family in the animated world,” he told the outlet. “Black fathers get one of the worst raps in terms of stereotypes—we’re deadbeats, we’re not around. The people I know are extremely involved in their kids’ lives.”

To make the film, the former athlete created a Kickstarter campaign, raising over $284,000 from several donors—including Bruce Smith, the writer and director of The Proud Family, and Everett Downing Jr., a Pixar animator who worked on the films Brave and Up.

The film “offered the chance to create subtleties and specificities that you normally don’t get in African-American animated characters,” Smith told the New York Times in the interview, with Downing adding, “I donated to the Kickstarter campaign the first week. I felt a connection to the material. Bruce is a dad, I’m a dad: We’re black dads bringing that experience onto the screen. The character’s not trying to be a bad*ss or a clown, he’s sharing a moment with his family.”

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