Rochester event to use headscarves for storytelling, connection among Minnesota women

NINA MOINI: The clothes people wear often tell stories about who we are, and that can be especially true with what we wear on our heads. Head scarves, head dresses, and other head coverings hold religious and cultural significance across many groups. For years, my next guest has been getting Minnesota women together to share about their lives, their backgrounds, their style, with headscarves as a starting point.

Rose McGee is with the Minnesota Humanities Center and joins me in the studio now to talk about a headscarf story circle that's happening in Rochester this weekend. Thank you for being with us, Rose.

ROSE MCGEE: Well, thank you. Thank you so much, yes.

NINA MOINI: That you have such a passion for bringing people together and for helping others connect, and you've been doing that work for a long time. I understand, this idea started for you about 25 years ago when you started organizing headscarf tees. What made you want to do that?

ROSE MCGEE: I just felt that as women, we needed to have this connection that would bring us together, that didn't have some sort of-- something of the negative, but instead, it was positive.

So I was very excited when, years later, the Minnesota Humanities Center embraced this concept beautifully, and I appreciate what we've been able to do so far. And Minnesota Humanities is a nonprofit organization that aims to create just society that is curious, connected, and compassionate.

So through the Minnesota Humanities Immersive Program, that's where the headscarf situation of beauty, I think of it as beauty because of the colors and the whole tapestry that's there that brings women together.

NINA MOINI: And you mentioned, these are spaces of just positivity and light, and nothing negative, you said. Tell me what the headscarf story circle-- what happens. Walk me through what it's like.

ROSE MCGEE: Yeah. And I shouldn't even say it's nothing negative. It's a situation where we're able to bring people together in what we consider to be a safe space.

NINA MOINI: Sure.

ROSE MCGEE: We wouldn't say, all right, everyone who might be a cancer patient, come to this. But instead, women are invited to come-- bring themselves in their own scarf or whatever their head wrap may be. And when they start realizing the similarities that they share, oftentimes it just eases right into people becoming comfortable with sharing.

And I think that's what it's about. When we realize our commonalities, that's what makes-- that's what makes relationships. And I think of one in particular, when we were in Rochester a few months ago, a woman had contacted us and said, I'd really like to come, but this may not be for me. She thought it was going to be something else.

But she arrived and she saw that there were women of all ethnicities, and she freely shared that she was a cancer survivor and chose to wear the head scarves instead of wigs because of the colors and the beauty of it.

NINA MOINI: I love that you're talking about all of these different reasons and all of these different meanings, but it's also a way of self-expression and connecting with others.

And a lot of people may recognize you as the Founder of Sweet Potato Comfort Pie, which you founded after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri more than a decade ago. And you have used food to help communities heal together in types of grief and trauma. Is clothing even more personal for people? Or how do you compare the two, if you do compare them?

ROSE MCGEE: Well, clothing is something that we all wear, right? just as food is something that we all eat.

NINA MOINI: Mm-hmm.

ROSE MCGEE: But when I think about the head scarf, I think of the fact that people wear them as an expression of cultural identity. It could be a health reason, as I've mentioned. It could be religious. It could be fashion. And if you look at me closely, it could be just a bad hair day.

NINA MOINI: Oh, stop.

ROSE MCGEE: So when we have all of these, again, the commonalities. And that's what we try to do with these Minnesota Humanities Programs, is to bring them into communities by reaching out to partners who then will lead the way. So we're not just going in and say, here, we want to take over this, but no, you're the community organization.

So the head scarf that's coming up this Saturday, for example. The community partner is the Rochester Women Magazine that Towanda Burke is the owner and editor of. So that organization serves as the one that we rely on to reach out into community and bring your people in.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, you're doing a three-part series there.

ROSE MCGEE: Mm-hmm.

NINA MOINI: It's such a time where people sometimes don't have a safe space, or sometimes people refer to it as a third space. It's just somewhere you go that's not work or the office or at home, or somewhere you go and you feel really seen. I feel like people are really isolated right now. Like, how do you think this helps, especially in a divisive time where sometimes people don't even connect with people who they don't have tons of things in common with?

ROSE MCGEE: That's true, that's very true. And that's one of the beauties of what Minnesota Humanities is doing, as we're able to provide either free or very low-cost programs because of legislator-- legislative funds that we receive. And that is why we are expanding, if you will, these programs.

So you may hear about things happening in the Twin Cities, but we're also going to other places across the state of Minnesota. Headscarf is one of them.

And when we're able to bring more communities into these like-situations, then it will just expand the connectedness, I believe, and that's what we aim to do. We had over 440 women who attended our head scarf events, and one was actually in St. Cloud, Minnesota last fall. And, again, we're just trying to continue to expand the program across the state.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. I think that a lot of what you're talking about is so important. And this three-part series of events that you're doing, there is a theme, right? So people don't have to show up and fill the space, there's kind of a guiding theme. Can you talk about that?

Sustaining Home, Health, and Joy, that's this Saturday, March 28, in Rochester, and it's free-- I understand what people need to register ahead of time, I just want to make sure we get that in. Tell me about that theme and why it was chosen.

ROSE MCGEE: Well, I'm so glad you mentioned that because when you think about Women's History Month, March, sustainability tends to be what the focus is this year. But we like to think that these particular topics are things that women are dealing with every day, every month, not just March.

So we wanted to carry a similar theme throughout so that no one feels that, oh, I didn't make it for the one held in March, so therefore, I guess I can't come because there's still the same situation. There's still health concerns. There's still the women entrepreneurs, how to balance your own work-life with your health, and that's very important, very critical these days.

Another thing that's coming up soon is our whole nation's focus on the 250th anniversary. So there's a place in there for women, too, but they may not think about that. So when we have different kinds of events, we're able to remind people that this is for you as well. Your voice is important to be there also.

So that's kind of it, is, what is sustainability? What does it mean? What does all of this, how does it connect? So being able to be in a room with women who have these beautiful head scarves, it's uplifting.

NINA MOINI: I love it, and I wouldn't want to-- I don't know if someone can go who doesn't regularly wear a head scarf for any type of reason because I'm like, oh, do I wear enough head scarves? But tell me about anybody is welcome?

ROSE MCGEE: Oh, anybody is welcome. And our young people, some of them, they want to be really cute and not mess up their hair, so it's like, I don't want to wear a head scarf. Well, you don't have to. You can still come and be a part of this beautiful mess.

We were recognized in November when the head scarf was held in Rochester as part of the series by the mayor, Mayor Kim Norton, actually presented--

NINA MOINI: That's wonderful.

ROSE MCGEE: --a proclamation and made it-- yeah, Head Scarf Day.

NINA MOINI: It's great when people have support for the types of efforts that you're doing, and that's nice to see that coming from a city official. So another event in Rochester, again, happening this Saturday, free, but people need to register. And the theme is Sustaining Home, Health, and Joy. Rose McGee, thank you so much for coming to our studio today and visiting with us, and thanks for all the work you do, I appreciate it.

ROSE MCGEE: Well, I thank you for that, and it's always good to see you.

NINA MOINI: You, too. Thank you. Rose McGee is with the Minnesota Humanities Center. That is going to do it for us today. Thank you so much for listening, as always.

Tomorrow on Minnesota Now, one of the first major data sets on the impact of ICE activity in Minnesota has been released. We'll talk to researchers about the importance of studying this historic time.

Plus, we'll talk to the high school coach of Gopher Women's Basketball, star and Minnesota native Amaya Battle. That's coming up tomorrow at noon. We hope you'll join us back here for Minnesota Now, and have a great rest of your day.

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