Pelo Bueno by
La abuela Petronila demuestra todo el amor que siente por su nieta, al contarle historias familiares. Tambi n brinda lecciones sobre la defensa del cabello natural. Este es un cuento que resalta las ra ces de la afropuertorrique idad y que infunde orgullo para que crezca la autoestima en nuestros nietos y nietas, hijos e hijas.
Pelo Bueno by
La abuela Petronila demuestra todo el amor que siente por su nieta, al contarle historias familiares. Tambi n brinda lecciones sobre la defensa del cabello natural. Este es un cuento que resalta las ra ces de la afropuertorrique idad y que infunde orgullo para que crezca la autoestima en nuestros nietos y nietas, hijos e hijas.
Photo of Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro: Tiaré García / Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro is a Puerto Rican writer whose works often focus on the discussion of Afroidentity as well as LGBT issues. She is the Director of the Department of AfroPuertoRican Studies, a performative project of Creative Writing based at the Casa Museo Ashford in San Juan, Puerto Rico as well as the founder and chair of Ancestral Black Women, in response to the call by UNESCO to celebrate the International Decade for People of African Descent. She has published several novels, collections of short stories, and poetry collections that are primarily aimed towards adult audiences, in addition to several children’s books.
Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro's most recent books for children include: Capitán Cataño y las trenzas mágicas, Mejorar la raza, and Mis dos mamas me miman.
More information about the author is available at Words Without Borders.
Teaching Defiance and Afro-Puerto Rican Pride in Pelo Bueno
‘Pelo Malo’ and a Story of Afro-Puerto Rican Pride by Nicole Hsiao is an article that talks about the importance of this book teaching defiance and pride in the face of racist bullying.
Black in Latin America
African American historian Henry Louis Gates worked with PBS to produce a documentary series called Black in Latin America.
More open-source information is available here from the City College of New York about Black Latinos, particularly about the Dominican experience and history.
AfroLatinidad
The blogger SpanishMama provides resources and more information on Afro-Latinos and their experiences in this post here.
LatinoUSA did a podcast episode on who gets to claim Afro-Latinidad and what it means to be Black and Latino in the United States here.
Hair Discrimination
The NEA wrote an article on banning hair discrimination and racism in schools available here. Although some schools have taken steps to fight back against prejudice against natural Black hair by addressing racist dress codes, there is still much more that needs to be done.
The Importance of Abuelas
For many Latinos, family is close-knit and important, with multiple generations living together; in this article Refinery29 staffers and readers write about their abuelas and how important they have been in their life.
Le pregunté a mi abuela Petronila por qué otros niños de la escuela le llaman a mi pelo rizado rizadito, pelo malo.
- No le hagas caso a esos niños. Tu pelo no es malo, tu pelo no es travieso, tu pelo no es desobediente. Tu pelo no se porta mal, no miente, no ofende, no humilla, no se burla. Por eso tu pelo no puede ser malo. Tu pelo no ha hecho nada malo. - me dijo ella.
I asked my Grandma Petronila why other kids at school call my kinky, curly hair, bad hair.
"Don't listen to those kids. Your hair is not bad, your hair is not naughty, your hair is not disobedient. Your hair does not misbehave, does not lie, does not offend, does not humiliate, does not mock. That is why your hair cannot be bad. Your hair has done nothing wrong," she told me.
| Spanish | English | Pronunciation |
| Rizado | Curly or kinky | rree - sah- doh |
| Caracol | A curl or a ringlet | kah - rah -kohl |
| Mira ahora | Look now | mee - rah ah - oh - rah |
| Pelo bueno | Good hair | peh - loh bweh - noh |
| Pelo malo | Bad hair, but it is often used colloquially and in a racist way to refer to curly, frizzy, kinky hair. |
peh - loh mah - loh |
Summary
A young girl asks her grandmother about her hair after kids at school say she has an afro and bad hair. She does have an afro, her grandmother tells her, and so does she! Then the young girl says that kids at school say her hair is bad, but her grandma tells her that hair cannot do bad things and therefore it is not bad. The two try out all sorts of fun hairstyles on each other, often referencing their Afrolatina culture, laughing and enjoying themselves.
Groups Represented
Suggested Age and Reading Level
Kindergarten to 2nd grade
Prevalent Themes
Pride in cultural identity
Pride in appearance
Self-esteem
Natural hair
Roots/ancestry
Multi-generational connections
Family bonding
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