A Brief History of Black Hair, Politics, and Discrimination

On July 3, 2019, California became the first state to legally protect the hair of black students and employees when Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 188, also referred to as the CROWN Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair), a law that declares hair discrimination to be illegal. Nine days later, on July 12, New York followed suit and became the second state to criminalize hair discrimination. The new California law reads, “The history of our nation is riddled with laws and societal norms that equated ‘blackness,’ and the associated physical traits, for example, dark skin, kinky and curly hair to a badge of inferiority, sometimes subject to separate and unequal treatment.” The bill goes on to say, “Professionalism was, and still is, closely linked to European features and mannerisms, which entails that those who do not naturally fall into Eurocentric norms must alter their appearances, sometimes drastically and permanently, in order to be deemed professional.”