In my research I am familiar with the story that the first Europeans who saw the African slaves called their hair dreadful, insinuating that it was ugly in some way.
But, there is another story about the use of the word 'dreads' that is a story of power; and it has to do with a group of people banding together to take back what belonged to them
The Mau Mau movement was Kenya's militant resistance against British Colonial rule. It began in 1946 as a movement agitating for the return of African land and political rights. The term Mau Mau is believed to be either a Kikuyu or swahili term, buts its meaning has been the subject of numerous speculations. No one really knows where this term originated, or the kind of mesage it was meant to convey. The best interpretation I ever got was that it was originally meant to read Uma Uma which is swahili for continually biting. Apparently that was meant to imply biting at the colonial administration. But again, that is just my interpretation. I've heard more ridiculous versions.
All we know is that Mau Mau was a rebellion of landless peasants and low paid labourers who had noticed a significant difference between their pay and their white counterparts. The british labourers were paid approximately five times what their African counterparts did and this is one of the things that hatched the African dissent. The Mau Mau became very powerful because it was more of a spiritual movement than a political one. They were famous for the dreadlocks they wore, a phenomenon that would become very popular long after their demise. The spiritual leader of the Mau Mau was Field Marshall Dedan Kimathi Waciuri. http://kenya740.tripod.com/maumau.html 
Throughout the diaspora, particularly in America, dreadlock styling and maintenance for Africans has grown and evolved to be increasingly stylistic. In the early 1990s, Dr. JoAnne Cornwell launched a versatile hair care system that involved creating fine dreaded tresses called "Sisterlocks" or "Brotherlocks." The company Sisterlocks has promoted the spread of the techniques of sisterlocking since 1993.
Another interpretation among the Rastafari is that "dread" refers to the fear that dreadlocked Mau Mau warriors inspired among the colonial British.[citation needed] The Mau Mau, a largely ethnic Kikuyu rebel group in Kenya fighting to overthrow the state government of the British Colony and Protectorate of Kenya from 1952–1960, hid for many years in the forests, during which time their hair grew into long locks. The images of their rebellion, then broadcast around the world, are said to have inspired Jamaican Rastafari to wear locks.
Dreadlocks on a Rasta's head are symbolic of the Lion of Judah which is sometimes centered on the Ethiopian Flag. Rastas hold that Selassie is a direct descendant of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, through their son Menelik I. Rastas also believe African people are the descendants of the Israelites' Tribe of Judah through the lineage of Kings of Israel David and Solomon, and that he is also the Lion of Judah mentioned in the Book of Revelation.
So, in the final analysis, is the word 'dreads' a word of defamation or a part of African history lost? The Mau Mau group were dreaded for their violent fighting strategy and they became dreaded. To take the power from the powerful-you mock something of power to make it meaningless-to change the topic. So the hairstyle became a joke or something ugly instead of a hairstyle that warriors wore to take on a super power.
We have the choice of the glass being half empty or half full. The word 'dreads' can be seen as a horrible word or it can remind you of a group of people willing to fight to regain what they believed belonged to them. Interpretation makes a world of difference and as a Libra- I can see both sides of the ongoing battle of locs versus dreads. I choose if the glass is half empty (negative) or half full (positive)
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