Kumasi, Ghana: a mother holding a child with unshaved hair; a group stands in the background. Photograph, 1920/1940 (?).

1920-1940

1 photograph : photoprint ; sheet 13.8 x 9.7 cm

Gold Coast, Kumasi. Ashanti mother and child. The small girl has not got her head shaved, because the mother want[s] her to look ugly, so that the evil spirits may not want her and kill her. Another daughter, very beautiful, died recently Lettering: handwritten in pencil on photograph verso

Wellcome Collection 580032i