Freda’s Beauty Rama & Gift Shop has been in the spotlight as the community rallies to save the building in southeast Cedar Rapids, but to Freda Long, the real story is one of business succession. “Octavia grew up in this beauty salon,” Ms. Long, 88, said of her granddaughter, Octavia Cox. “She surprised me when […]
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Freda’s Beauty Rama & Gift Shop has been in the spotlight as the community rallies to save the building in southeast Cedar Rapids, but to Freda Long, the real story is one of business succession.
“Octavia grew up in this beauty salon,” Ms. Long, 88, said of her granddaughter, Octavia Cox. “She surprised me when she told me she was going to beauty school. She said, ‘I want to be like you.’”
Ms. Cox, 26, enrolled at Capri College and started at the cosmetology school after graduating from Cedar Rapids Washington in 2014.
The experience differed dramatically from her grandmother’s after graduating in 1952 from McKinley in Cedar Rapids.
Ms. Blakey – Freda’s maiden name – was turned away from the Paris Academy in Cedar Rapids due to her race, and was told to apply at a beauty school where Black students were accepted.
She worked as a bookkeeper at Armstrong’s Department Store in Cedar Rapids to save money to attend Crescent Beauty School in Des Moines, the only one at the time that accepted Black students.
“My parents could only afford to send me $4 per month,” Ms. Long said, adding that she attended Crescent classes in the day and worked as a nurse’s aide at Blank Children’s Hospital at night “to help me through school.”
In Des Moines, she styled the hair of Little Richard, who returned whenever he was in town, saying he liked her work. An autographed poster of the singer brightens a wall in her salon.
The family is aware of businesses nearby in New Bohemia that received assistance, Mr. Montgomery said, “but at some point, someone decided that we’re on the other side of a dotted line.”
Mr. Montgomery cited generations of families who spent time at his mother’s beauty shop and the importance of keeping that history alive for the neighborhood and for his niece, who wants to continue the business.
“The idea would be to keep that legacy going on that corner as a Black beauty shop,” he said, citing its role as a community center. “There’s the historical aspect from the African-American perspective.”
The city installed a marker across the street citing its history, but the building does not yet have a historic designation.
“Freda's Beauty Rama was a Black-owned, woman-owned business when that was a rarity,” noted Dorothy de Souza Guedes, president of the Oak Hill Jackson Neighborhood Association. “The building should also be preserved because it's the type of small neighborhood, minority-owned business that was once common here. Most are long gone, but we have an opportunity to save this one.”