Through the window of Bill's Barbershop

“You can be educated in soul, vision, feelings as well as the mind. God creates every man with it, knowingly or unknowingly to him who possesses it, develop yours, and you become as great and full of knowledge as the other men without even entering a classroom.”

- Khabyr Hadas

Marcus Garvey

During the mid-50s, Bill Bryant was one of the few licensed barbers in Philadelphia. In 1955, there were very few Black-owned businesses and scattered Black homeowners in the West Philadelphia area. The majority of the residents were Italians and white Jews. In the mid to late 50s, the West Philadelphia community began to experience a slow influx of Black families, which caused the white residents to gravitate to the suburbs.

During this historical time of social change, William (Bill) Bryant would build a thriving and successful business that illuminated for (60) years. BILL’s BARBERSHOP, located at 259. South 52nd Street would become a beacon of light and a granite pillar in the community for (6) decades.

As years would unfold, this magnificent establishment would be safely guarded, nurtured, and managed by his beautiful daughter, Marion Bryant (Ms. Mary), and eventually by his first-born grandson and the son of Marion, Khabyr Hadas.

My grandfather always said, “You could meet the most extraordinary people in the most ordinary places.”

History teaches us that Black barbershops around the country provide services to a diverse pool from all walks of life. Pastors, professors, politicians, activists, doctors, retired teachers, cooks, structural engineers, songwriters, poets, bus drivers, saxophone players, single parents, convicted felons, retired police chiefs, business owners, Uber drivers, coaches, publishers, optometrist, and painters all get haircuts from Barbershops like BILL’S.