News Argus, December 2000
Features
Church 'Crowns'
Four women at WSSU are part of book showcasing church hats
pi
%4 * **v* ^Z£fl8&
U\. *^v
m
v:f
m
4
*‘«i^
By Joy Scott
Argus Reporter
Photos courtesy of Michael Cunningham
Beth Hopkins (top) with
her mother, Grace;
Sanclary Saunders
(above); and Carmen
Bonham (right) display
their best hats.
As a child, Sherrie Flynt-
Wallington admired the regal
women in her church that wore
elaborate and decorative church
hats. She said they
reminded her of
"beautiful dolls."
"But I knew how
hard they worked all
week. Sometimes,
under those hats,
there's a lot of joy and
a lot of sorrow," she
said in "Crowns:
Portraits of Black
Women in Church
Hats," a book celebrat
ing the tradition of
church hats.
Flynt-Wallington
and three other
Winston-Salem State
University faculty and
staff grace the pages of
the book, along with
local women sharing
some of their most
deep thoughts about
life, love and loss.
A friend of the book's photogra
pher, Michael Cunningham, and the
book's writer, Craig Marberry,
Flynt-Wallington, an advertising
instructor and assistant to the hon
ors program director, was instru
mental in spreading the word to
some of the 54 women featured in
the book.
"It's just like the birth of a baby.
From the beginning it was pregnant
with so many promises," she said.
"All the book signings are like little
baby showers."
Cunningham and Marberry have
'‘When you
talk to a
woman about a
hat, when she’s
worn hats all
her life, you 're
not talking
about her hat.
You're talking
about her life. ”
— Craig Marberry
had book discussions and signings
within the last month at Special
Occasions and Barnes & Noble
Booksellers in Winston-Salem to
promote the book.
"When you talk to a woman
about a hat, when she's worn hats
all her life, you're not
talking about her hat.
You're talking about
her life," Marberry
said at Barnes & Noble
on Nov. 18. The idea
for the book began two
years ago when
Cunningham said he
was talking to a friend
about a church service
and the hats the
women wore to
church. "At that
moment, as a photog
rapher, I could see
there was something
there," he said. "1 felt
like 1 was over
whelmed with some
thing."
Cunningham began
to come into Winston-
Salem churches and take pictures of
the women after church service.
After taking a few pictures,
Cunningham showed them to
Marberry. "Craig immediately saw
a vision for the book," Cunningham
said.
"Right from the beginning I
began to hear the voices for the sto
ries," Marberry said.
Immediately the men began to
work on the project; Cunningham
photographing the women, and
Marberry interviewing them.
"Everyday was like a mission to tell
See CROWNS, page 7
If a woman wears a hat all the
time, she's going to look naked in
the casket without one.
: — Carmen Bonham