The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), Hulu and Disney’s Onyx Collective have announced the docuseries, The Hair Tales.
Tracee Ellis Ross and Michaela Angela Davis are executive producing, with the latter creating the concept for this series. Other executive producers are Onyx Collective and Freeform president Tara Duncan, Culture House’s Raeshem Nijhon and Carri Twigg, as well as Oprah Winfrey. Joy Mill Entertainment, Culture House, Tetravision and Harpo Films are the production banners.
To broaden viewership and audience, the series will air on cable at OWN and be a Hulu Original docuseries from Onyx Collective. It’ll be on Disney+ internationally as a Star Original.
The description: In The Hair Tales, narrators and real-life friends Tracee Ellis Ross and Michaela angela Davis, lead the audience through a revelatory journey of connecting the personal tales of phenomenal Black women to broader societal and historic themes. The stories shared in the series offer an honest and layered look into the complex culture of Black hair and ultimately Black women’s identity, creativity, and contributions to society – all delivered with a rare mix of intelligence, humor, style, joy, and justice.
“This series is about identity, culture and legacy, beauty, strength and joy,” said Tracee Ellis Ross. “Hair is a portal into the souls of Black women, it drives straight to the center of who we are. Our goal is to share this vibrant community, where we hold a sacred space for each other. Like many women, I can trace my own journey to self-acceptance through my hair. This series is personal and universal, American and global. It is a love letter to Black women.”
“Early in my career, when I was just 22, my boss informed me my hair was too thick for the green screen wall behind the news desk and I needed to change my style,” said Oprah Winfrey. “So I was sent to a fancy salon in New York City and the stylist put a French perm on my hair. It burned so badly when he washed the perm out, my hair came out with it – and so did my identity and sense of self. Having grown up with the cultural edict ‘your hair is your crowning glory,’ it took awhile to regain confidence with my teeny weeny Afro. I learned then that our hair and how we as Black women see ourselves had deep roots.”
“There is a story in every curl, coil and kink of our hair. This show will be a dynamic adventure through these stories of ancestry and innovation, politics and pop culture, ritual, resilience, and revolution but mostly reveal humanity. It will affirm Black women, inform others and inspire everyone,” Michaela angela Davis.
“Hair has been part of every Black woman’s identity and personal expression throughout history, and this series celebrates and fully embraces a woman’s power to be herself,” said Tina Perry, president, OWN. “We are especially happy to be partnering with Hulu to ensure that this impactful new series that Tracee and Michaela created reaches the widest audience possible.”
“Every Black woman has a personal and defining story that involves her hair,” stated Tara Duncan. “From the moment Tracee and Michaela shared the idea for this series, I knew it would strike a chord with Black women and anyone who has ever been curious about the singular connection between our hair, our agency, our beauty and our identity. It’s incredibly exciting for Onyx Collective to bring this project, that is entirely produced by women of color, to Hulu and OWN.”
“As owners of a women, and women of color owned production company, The Hair Tales is a dream project. It unites our company’s values of paradigm shifting storytelling, centering creators with agency and authority, and creative excellence in a beautiful to watch and impactful to experience TV show,” said Raeshem Nijhon and Carri Twigg, Founding Partners, Culture House.
