Skip to main content

A Lasting Gift: The Barber, the Barbershop, the Community


 

Less than a year ago I was was inspired by an article in the Banner to write this piece:

One Hundred Years and Other Good News, Village Green/Town² October 21, 2024

The Banner article:

Columbia barbershop marks 100 years of haircuts and mentoring Black barbers, Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner  

It’s because of Ms. Nocera that I learned about the history of Warren’s Barbershop, now in Owen Brown, and of its long-time Howard County owner, Julius Warren, Jr.

His son, Mr. Julius, joined the family [barbershop] business when he was 13. That’s when his father handed him his first pair of clippers. 

“Being a barber was one of the best businesses to have back then,” said Mr. Julius, who took over the shop from his father in 1981…

Yesterday Nocera was back with more about Warren and his life’s work as she penned his final story.

Julius Warren Jr., Black-owned barbershop owner, was an institution in Howard County, Jess Nocera, Baltimore Banner

Also noteworthy: Warren was a 1955 graduate of Harriet Tubman School.  You may remember how I learned about the value and power of a good haircut to students at Harriet Tubman from a talk by fellow-graduate Bessie Bordenave in 2017.

Helping to keep members of the community looking good and feeling good - - I’m paraphrasing County Executive Calvin Ball here - - was and is a far bigger deal than many of us who are white can imagine. In a culture that has long insisted that white skin and white hair are The Norm, the creation of spaces where Black Americans were welcomed and valued has been hugely important. (Still worth watching: Henry Louis Gates, Jr’s “Making Black America: Through the Grapevine” on PBS.)

Days after Warren died the barbershop that had been his life’s work held their sixth annual back-to-school event. That must have been hard to do. Think of how you would feel under those circumstances.

Here’s a flyer from last years’s event to give you an idea. 





A few days after Mr. Warren died, the barbershop held its annual back-to-school festival, complete with free haircuts and a live band.

When Clark spoke about Warren at the community day last month, he looked out to the crowd and was filled with joy.

“I looked around at the whole bunch of people and knew this all started because of Mr. Julius,” Clark said in an interview Friday. Clark and Julius Warren III now co-own the barbershop.

It’s impossible to ignore the common thread in both of these articles: hard work, mentoring, teaching, learning, fostering relationships, engaging in community service. As much as these themes are imparted to the reader, it’s even clearer to see just how deeply they have been imprinted on Warren’s children.

Brittany Warren and her brother, Julius Warren III, want to start a foundation to honor their father’s legacy by helping young Black entrepreneurs start their own businesses.

The Instagram account for Warren’s Barber Shop announced the passing of Mr. Julius and shared funeral arrangements, along with a song. I’m listening to it now and giving thanks for his life and legacy.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Fresh

One of my favorite days in the Spring comes when this year’s list of Farmer’s Markets is released. That happened this week. New this year are markets in Old Ellicott City and the “Merriweather Market” which, according to the address, will be located here . I mistakenly thought at first glance that it was in the new-construction part of the Merriweather District. I find the name confusing considering its actual location. I’m going to guess that this market is an initiative of the Howard Hughes Corporation because the name seems chosen more for branding purposes than anything else.  Alas, the market in Maple Lawn is gone. The thread on the markets on the County Executive’s FB page will provide you with quite the education in who actually runs the Farmers Markets vs what people often think is going on. Short answer: they are not  chosen nor run by the county. Each market is an independent entity, sometimes started by community volunteers, other times supported by local businesses...
1 comment
Read more

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more