The Nineties in America - Salem Press (2009)

Clooney, Michael Jordan, Joan Lunden, Madonna,
Sinéad O’Connor, and David Schwimmer. Sports fig-
ures such as Mac Cozier and Cobi Jones sported
dreadlocks; the style was popular mostly for black
hair, but “dreads” also found their way into white
men’s and women’s tresses.
When Michael Jordan went bald in 1997, he
started a hairstyle trend for men unlike any America
had ever seen. Perhaps the low-maintenance bald
look for men encouraged renewed interest in the
messy updo for women, who could simply collect
their hair into a scrunchie, a cloth-covered rubber
band, letting wisps of it dangle around their faces.
The messy updo was also partly political: Appearing
to spend less time on hair implied that these women
spent time on more important things. Just after Pres-
ident Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, Hillary
sported a new, chic hairstyle, which a watching na-
tion attributed to her need for refinement after the
Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Impact The “Less is more” attitude of the 1990’s
held true for the decade’s hairstyles. The big hair-
styles of the 1980’s were no longer in vogue, and
there was a return to natural hair. Celebrity-influ-
enced hair trends continued, the most notable of
which was “the Rachel.”

Further Reading
Jones, Lisa.Bulletproof Diva: Tales of Race, Sex, and
Hair. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Anthology of es-
says that explore the 1990’s multicultural woman
and her politicized fashion messages.
McCracken, Grant.Big Hair: A Journey into the Trans-
formation of Self. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press,

1996. Traces hairstyles, mostly women’s, through
      history, offers scientific information about hair,
      and connects the biology of hair to hair’s pop cul-
      ture prestige.
      Mancuso, Kevin.The Mane Thing. Boston: Little,
      Brown, 1999. Composed of illustrations of hair-
      style trends of the 1990’s, as well as hair-care tips
      mostly for women, this collection surveys hair-
      styles across American culture.
      Sherrow, Victoria.Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural His-
      tor y. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006.
      Anthology offering myriad essays detailing Amer-
      ican hairstyles’ history, trends, and cultural mean-
      ings.
      Ami R. Blue

See also African Americans;Beverly Hills, 90210;

Boy bands; Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Clooney,

George; Fads; Fashions and clothing;Friends; Gener-

ation Y; Grunge fashion; Jordan, Michael; Madonna.

 Haiti intervention

The Event The United States intervenes in Haiti

in order to remove the military junta and

restore democratic institutions

Date U.S. troops arrived September 19, 1994

The militar y intervention led by the United States in Haiti

was a response to the ongoing terror regime established by

General Raoul Cédras and his militar y junta, which

ousted democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Sep-

tember, 1991.

Between 1991 and 1994, General Raoul Cédras’s

military junta conducted a campaign of killing and

torture of people who were believed to be opposed

to the government, leading to an exodus by Haitians

seeking asylum in the United States. The over-

whelming influx of Haitians into the United States,

along with other strategic reasons, led U.S. presi-

dent Bill Clinton to push for a forced military inter-

vention in Haiti in 1994.

Haiti’s history is one of political instability and

conflicts. The country was the second nation in the

Americas to become independent, in 1804, and the

only nation to be established by a successful slave re-

bellion. Since the country’s independence, the po-

litical struggles have led to a number of autocratic

regimes, including the rule of François “Papa Doc”

Duvalier (1957-1971) and his son Jean-Claude “Baby

Doc” Duvalier (1971-1986). In 1990, Jean-Bertrand

Aristide was elected in Haiti’s first democratic elec-

tions, but his government lasted less than eight

months. On September 30, 1991, a military junta

overthrew Aristide, mainly because of his reform

policies, which included the demilitarization of the

country as well as a comprehensive redistribution of

wealth plan. After the coup, Cédras’s junta started to

persecute Aristide’s supporters, leading to the rap-

ing, torturing, and killing of thousands of Haitian

citizens.

Haiti’s Problem Is a U.S. Problem During the

Cédras regime, thousands of Haitians fled their ter-

ror-ridden country in makeshift boats in an attempt

The Nineties in America Haiti intervention
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