In Full Color by Rachel Dolezal

Author:Rachel Dolezal [Doležal, Rachel; Reback, Storms]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944648176
Publisher: BenBella Books, Inc.

Chapter Nineteen

Adopting a New Dad II

TO SUPPORT FRANKLIN AND MYSELF after the divorce, I had to rely on the poverty-induced resourcefulness I’d developed as a child. I worked in the photofinishing lab at Uncle Dan’s camera shop on and off for a year and a half. I apprenticed as a sushi chef at Bonsai Bistro, an Asian fusion restaurant located just across the street from the Coeur d’Alene Resort. And I converted styling Black women’s hair from a hobby to a job.

A walking billboard for braids, twists, and locs, I got many of my clients from chance encounters in public. In the summer, I liked to wear braids and dreads as carefree, low-maintenance, beach-ready options. In the winter, I preferred a weave because wefts insulate the scalp, negating the need for a hat in the chilly Northwest. When Black women saw me in the grocery store or bumped into me on the street, they often complimented my hair and asked where I’d gotten it done. Most were impressed to hear that I’d styled it myself, a habit I’d adopted to save money, and asked if I could do theirs. These conversations led to a steady stream of clients and a small supplemental income for my family.

My extensive background in art ultimately pulled me—just barely—above the poverty line, although not quite the way I’d imagined. After I finished the fountain Rodney had helped me put together, I was commissioned to paint a mural and sold a few small collages of landscapes at exhibits in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane, but the money I made from these sales wasn’t even enough to pay for my art supplies and framing. There simply wasn’t a market for Black art in North Idaho. To me, art is a conversation, and without an audience to respond to my work, continuing to put images into the world that might never be purchased or even seen didn’t make much sense. Besides, I had a kid to support. Bread and butter were more important than canvases and paint.

As much experience as I had making art, it was an easy transition when I started teaching it. I worked as a full-time art and science teacher at a Christian prep school as well as a substitute art teacher at a magnet elementary school. In 2005, I made the jump to North Idaho College (NIC), where, as an adjunct professor, I taught illustration and design classes and, starting the following year, an art history and art appreciation course. Because I received the lowest possible pay and no benefits, I took on a similar role at Eastern Washington University (EWU) in 2007. Between the two colleges, I taught full-time but at a lower rate of pay and with less job security than full professors.

The first course I taught at EWU was African and African American Art History, which had been revived after a five-year hiatus created by a lack of qualified teachers. I tried but failed to keep the course alive by cross-listing it with the Africana Studies Program, a department I was completely enamored with.

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