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These women exemplify 'hattitude'By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer© St. Petersburg Times published February 25, 2002 TAMPA -- Maggie Harris owns 117 hats. Elegant black hats and crown-shaped hats. Purple hats with roses on the brim and hats with shimmering white crystals nestled in delicate tulle. Foxy red hats and cool grey hats. But the best kind of hat, according to 73-year-old Harris, is a big hat. "Big, BIG hats," she says, then explains why. "I was always self-conscious about being short." Harris, (who is under 5 feet tall and was wearing a deep purple and black hat with a wide brim), and about 100 other people met at the College Hill branch of the Hillsborough County Library on Sunday to talk about hats as part of Black History Month. Mostly they talked about the tradition of wearing fancy hats to church, and the book, Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats. Women will spend hundreds of dollars to find the perfect hat to wear to church, everyone agreed. Wearing colorful, stylish hats and clothes on Sunday is often a reprieve from wearing conservative suits or uniforms during the week. Many women learned the tradition from their mothers or grandmothers. The women also tried to define that elusive quality that surrounds a woman when she is wearing a fabulous crown: hattitude. Carrie Hurst of Tampa certainly had it on Sunday. She wore a regal black straw hat that curved upward about 12 inches into a perfect circle. It was obviously a hat with a story. She bought it at a church convention a few years ago, and went to an event hosted by her church's bishop. When she walked in late -- wearing the incredible hat -- the bishop, standing at the front of the room, noticed. "Would you look at this hat coming in here," the bishop said. All 5,000 people in the audience turned to stare. "This is a hat that makes a statement," said Hurst. "This hat says, 'I've arrived.' " Hats are the Rev. Sharone Davis-Smith's signature. The 33-year-old Temple Terrace resident said the tradition started among black women several decades ago because a Bible passage says women's heads should be covered when they pray. Davis-Smith, who was wearing a white, winter hat adorned with silk flowers and mink feathers, owns more than 300 hats. When she wears a hat, she feels fully dressed, ready for anything. "When I die, bury me with my hat on," she said. "Just make room in my casket so I can go home complete."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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