Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats Hardcover – October 31, 2000

I’ve always loved hats, and I’ve always admired women who wore them with pride. The author and the photographer, both treated each woman with dignity, and told her story respectfully. I’m a Caucasian woman and have always been a little envious that Black women wear these beautiful crowns to church and look so elegant. I think it’s a custom we need to bring back. I consider this book a special little treasure, that I will keep all of my life.

I Received this book earlier than expected , and it is in mint condition. What a pleasant surprise, just in time for a coffee table book for Resurrection Sunday!

This is an excellent book, which makes for a welcomed gift for birthdays, or any special ocassion. I've given this as gifts to probably a couple of dozen women sinnce its publication. Women enjoy it so..................much because they relate to it so....well. Many women have worn hats over the years, and enjoy seeing hats worn by others. You can't go wrong with this book, especially if given as gifts to older Black women. They enjoy it most! And you can be asssured of many, many smiles!PhilP.S.To Amazon.com: There is a problem in ordering this book. It appears twice on the same page; once at the price of $17.95 or thereabouts. And in the second place for $32.95. I've ordered the one for $32.95 at least twice, thinking it was a bigger, more comprehensive book, containing more selections. It's the very same book, just mis-priced! PLEASE CORRECT THIS! Thank you.Phil

I am very pleased with my book. It looks new and was delivered earlier than expected. Will continue to order from Seattle Goodwill

I bought this book as part of my research for a role in the play Crowns: a Gospel Musical by Regina Taylor. This book is so wonderfully compiled. The voices behind each woman's story speak through so clearly to my heart. I read it cover to cover and can't stop going back to each of the women's faces to ponder how their lives intersect with mine. This is a perfect piece to keep in my home for my children to finger through and ask questions--then their children and their children's children to do the same. We have a rich and beautiful heritage that should always shine bright in the way that this book allows it to.

I would have given it a 5-star rating if there had been at least a few pictures in color. How I would have loved to have seen that wonderful hat on the cover in color! I am not a woman of color, but I am a woman of the generation who wore hats. I seldom see anyone my age or younger wearing a hat nowadays and I miss them. But the Black ladies in this book have both wonderful faces and wonderful hats and interesting stories about their hats. I always smile when driving bast a Black church on Sunday morning because the majority of the ladies are wearing hats and are all dressed up. Are some of them poor? Probably. They may be underpaid food service workers or they may be wives of local wealthy men -- who knows? Who cares? Who can tell by looking? All I can tell is that the women I see are proud of how they look and they carry themselves accordingly. They have the same kind of lifted-chin self-confidence of the women in this book. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys pictures of stories of ordinary people who like themselves and show it in these special pieces of apparel. I used to wear hats, fifty years ago, but never once did I have the sense of pride in my appearance that these women seem to have. More power to them. And their hats. I hope generations to come maintain that tradition.

I enjoyed reading stories of when and how Black women got started wearing hats (crowns). The book took me back to a time when I watched my mother, her sisters, cousins and grandmother get dressed wearing hats and the pride showed when dressed in a hat. It's amazing how a hat can be so magical combined with a sense of pride can transform a person even if its for a few hours. I absolutely love this book! I invited a group of friends over and we reminisced over coffee, tea and cake for hours about the book. Great coffee table book!

I LOVE this book and the wonderful pictures of the ladies wearing their best hats. I just wish it wasn't black and white photos. The short short stories they tell only make me want to know a bit more about each of them. Lovely women and the hats they wear. I wish I could pull it off like they do, but alas, I don't own any "church" hats.