Sun, Jul 12
|Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library
Roots & Reimagination: Beauty & Grooming Labor, American History, and the Future We Build
Right after the Fourth of July — during the 250th anniversary year of the United States — we are gathering to talk about beauty, labor, history, and the future of our industry. This event explores the American beauty industry’s past, the systems that shaped beauty work, and the possibilities ahead.
Time & Location
Jul 12, 2026, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM CDT
Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, 200 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Evansville, IN 47713, USA
About the event
As the United States marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Beyond the Chair is asking a different kind of freedom question: what would it mean for beauty workers to shape the systems they work within?
This event explores the history of the American beauty industry, the labor that built it, and the systems that continue to define beauty work today. Together, we will examine how education, licensing, salon models, ownership structures, and labor fragmentation shaped the industry — and how cooperative salons, democratic principles, and collective imagination can help us build a more equitable future.
This is a conversation about history, labor, democracy, and possibility.
The past inspires us. The future belongs to us.