Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was a highly educated writer. He wrote the essay called "In the Kitchen". In the script, he talks about his mother doing hair in the kitchen. The "kitchen" doesn't actually refer to a kitchen where someone would cook food. The "kitchen" is the area on the back of the head where "our neck meets the shirt collar". As Gates goes on to say, no one nor thing could straighten the kitchen. Gates begins to describe a political significance to hair by speaking of the "good" and "bad" hair. Gates attitude towards the "kitchen" is quite negative as he does not like the politics of it. They [people in general] consider white hair good hair. He believes the "process" in which a man tries to straighten his hair is pointless as it will not fix the "kitchen". The process for trying to fix it is quite expensive. It is best to trim it all off the best you can. Gates uses Frederick Douglas and Nat King Cole as examples of famous African-Americans to argue, to his point, that even the most expensive or unorthodox way of trying to fix your "kitchen" simply does not work
