Kilday said that while Tyler Perry's film "For Colored Girls" boasted an all-female, African-American cast, it opened to mixed reviews and never gained much traction as an Oscar contender.

CNN: Cover story: Where's the diversity at the Oscars?

And by the time she was nine, she was in a reform school and was sent to the House of Good Shepherd for Colored Girls in Baltimore for a year, which was quite a dour place, I think.

NPR: 'With Billie': A Jazz Great, As Others Saw Her

Though their bodies remain well covered by billowing abayas, the camel-hump girls are often heavily made-up and have a reputation for tottering around the shopping malls in brightly colored high heels.

WSJ: Young Women's Elaborate, High-Rise 'Camel Hump' Hairstyles Turn Heads in Dubai Malls