My own hair is straightened and has been for more years than I can remember, but when I wore my hair in braids, I would consistently encounter people asking a million questions about my hair.

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Sophie's name, the sound of it in Raisele's mouth, her name said by someone who had seen her, seen her laughing and chasing the chickens, seen her in her flannel nightgown and thick socks, braids one up, one down, seen her running in the yard, ducking Lev Pin-sky's dry red paw.

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Thando, a movie-star beautiful 19-year-old in a short skirt and long braids, winced at the idea that Americans would eat nondairy ice cream.

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For a great many poor people in America, particularly poor black men, prison is a destination that braids through an ordinary life, much as high school and college do for rich white ones.

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Given equal weight in the exhibit, of course, are photographs of actors portraying biblical characters in "The Bible, " like a still of Delilah shaving the braids from Samson's head or a sequence of images of Jesus being baptized.

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