“Sharp as a Tack:” Acquisition, Influences, and Meaning of African American Church Dress

Abstract

In this study, we explored the church dress of African American women to determine the influences that motivated their style of dressing that seems to be disappearing today. Ten participants aged 70 to 100 were interviewed through an oral history approach. Analysis, including open and axial coding, was used to identify emergent themes. When viewed through the lens of Symbolic Interactionism, the participants both molded and created their identities through social interaction with fellow churchgoers. From the influence of their parents and family members in identifying the importance of church and dressing appropriately to working hard through sewing, borrowing, and shopping to creating outfits that represented their beliefs in God, to evaluating the dress of themselves, their peers, and younger women, the participants voiced a variety of reasons for wearing church dress.