It's a Wrap!

It's a Wrap!
by Salima Alikhan

A woman sports a hijab.

The Complex History, and Broad New Appeal, of the

Head Scarf
As American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad stepped onto the floor for her first match of the 2016
Olympics, she had a razor-sharp sabre in her right hand and a snug white hijab on her head.

She was making history.

By sporting a traditional Muslim head covering, Muhammad became the first American athlete to wear
a headscarf during Olympic competition. Her symbolic breakthrough was just one demonstration of
the ways in which the headscarf is entering mainstream American culture.

Here are a couple of other examples:

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 It's a Wrap!

· Thirty-two-year-old Rahaf Khatib became the first hijab-clad woman to be prominently featured
on the cover of an American fitness publication, the October 2016 issue of Women's Running.
· Mattel issued its first hijab-wearing Barbie doll, which it named after Ibtihaj Muhammad, in 2017.
"I'm proud to know that little girls everywhere can now play with a Barbie who chooses to wear
hijab!" Muhammad wrote in a tweet.

The History of Headscarves around the World

Many people are familiar with Muslim women wearing headscarves, but across the world numerous
peoples wear head coverings-including non-Muslim Africans, eastern Europeans, Filipinos,
Guatemalans, Indonesians, and orthodox Jewish women.

The headscarf is, basically, a piece of fabric that covers a person's (usually a woman's) head. But it's
almost always more than just a head covering. It has also been a symbol of rebellion and submission,
of pride and concealment, of heritage and fashion.

Headscarves have made the news for being controversial at times. In France in 2018, they were
banned in schools and in public over concerns that some girls were being compelled to wear them.
Meanwhile, to this day, the law in Iran requires women there to cover their heads in public whether
they want to or not. Some have strongly protested that situation.

Headscarves have a deep-rooted, complicated place in American history, too. In the years before the
Civil War, enslaved Black women were forced by slave owners to cover their hair. Many of those
women turned that into a brave symbol of rebellion, wearing bright head wraps to demonstrate their
unbreakable spirits. In a recent echo of that spirit, legendary singers Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone
wore their hair in gorgeous wraps. African American women have been wearing them for many years
to salute their heritage, care for their hair, and be fashionable, too.

In many countries today, headscarves have become a stylish accessory. Designers Dolce and
Gabbana and Uniqlo have incorporated them into their fashion lines. And in a fashion first, every
model strutting the runway during Indonesian designer Anniesa Hasibuan's 2016 New York Fashion
Week show was wearing a headscarf.

Headscarves at an Exposition
Since 2013, the city of Dearborn, Michigan, has hosted the Headwrap Expo, an annual meeting
where hundreds of people discover new fashions and compare styling notes. The expo "was
established to build love and understanding between peoples of the world by tapping into our shared
love of fashion," organizer Zarinah El-Amin Naeem told Valerie Vande Panne of the Mashable
website.

Marlo Williams, 33, who came to Expo with a friend, said she proudly wears a brightly colored
headscarf every day. She's not religious. "It just looks cool," she told Mashable.

Headscarves have represented everything from status and oppression to style and celebration in their
long, complicated, and colorful history. Now, they have become a bold staple of modern fashion.

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 It's a Wrap! - Comprehension Questions

Name: ___________________________________ Date: _______________

1. What was Ibtihaj Muhammad the first American athlete to do?

A. She was the first American athlete to win a fencing competition in the Olympics.
B. She was the first American athlete to wear a headscarf during Olympic competition.
C. She was the first American female athlete to beat a male fencer in the Olympics.
D. She was the first woman in the Olympics to wear a headscarf during competition.

2. In the first section of the text, the author lists symbolic breakthroughs around
headscarves in mainstream U.S. culture. What is one example the author lists?

A. A woman who wears a headscarf was elected to the U.S. Senate for the first time.
B. A hijab-wearing fencer was featured in a sports documentary on a mainstream
American TV channel.
C. A hijab-wearing runner was featured for the first time on the cover of an American
fitness magazine.
D. A woman who wears a headscarf won an Oscar for Best Actress for the first time.

3. Women from different religions and cultures wear headscarves.

What information from the passage supports this conclusion?

A. "Mattel issued its first hijabi-wearing Barbie doll, which it named after Ibtihaj
Muhammad, in 2017. 'I'm proud to know that little girls everywhere can now play with a
Barbie who chooses to wear hijab!' Muhammad wrote in a tweet."
B. "By sporting a traditional Muslim head covering, Muhammad became the first
American athlete to wear a headscarf during Olympic competition. Her symbolic
breakthrough was just one demonstration of the ways in which the headscarf is entering
mainstream American culture."
C. "The headscarf is, basically, a piece of fabric that covers a person's (usually a
woman's) head. But it's almost always more than just a head covering."
D. "Many people are familiar with Muslim women wearing headscarves, but across the
world numerous peoples wear head coverings-including non-Muslim Africans, eastern
Europeans, Filipinos, Guatemalans, Indonesians, and orthodox Jewish women."

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 It's a Wrap! - Comprehension Questions

4. What does Ibtihaj Muhammad have in common with the fashion designer Anniesa
Hasibuan?

A. They are both very successful fencers who competed in the Olympics.
B. They are both well-known fashion designers from Fashion Week.
C. They both broke barriers around headscarves in their respective fields.
D. They both walked the runway of Fashion Week in 2016.

5. What is the main idea of this passage?

A. Headscarves play an important role in cultural and religious expression for many
women around the world, and they are being celebrated more and more for their cultural
and fashion significance.
B. American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad was the first American athlete to compete in the
Olympics wearing a headscarf, which inspired Mattel to create a hijabi-wearing Barbie
that they named after Muhammad.
C. In Iran, women are compelled by law to wear headscarves in public, but in France,
headscarves were banned in schools and in public.
D. The history of headscarves in the United States is intertwined with the history of
slavery, but today many African American women have reclaimed this history by wearing
headscarves for fashion or for haircare reasons.

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 It's a Wrap! - Comprehension Questions

6. Read these sentences from the text.

Headscarves have a deep-rooted, complicated place in

American history, too. In the years before the Civil War,
enslaved Black women were forced by slave owners to cover
their hair. Many of those women turned that into a brave
symbol of rebellion , wearing bright head wraps to demonstrate
their unbreakable spirits.

As used in this sentence, what does the word "rebellion" most closely mean?

A. negotiating with authority figures

B. resisting authority or rules
C. learning a new skill
D. teaching a class at school

7. Choose the answer that best completes the statement below.

Headscarves are becoming more popular as fashion items. _____, Uniqlo and Dolce
and Gabana have made headscarves as parts of their fashion lines.

A. Especially
B. In conclusion
C. However
D. For example

8. What is the purpose of the Headwrap Expo in Dearborn, Michigan?

9. What kind of history do headscarves have in the United States?

10. Summarize what headscarves can mean to different people who wear them.
Support your summary with details from the text.

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