Cameron Miranda
The CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair, was created to address and combat hair discrimination, particularly in the workplace and schools. The legislation seeks to protect individuals from facing discrimination or unfair scrutiny based on their hair texture and protective hairstyles, which are often associated with racial identity and cultural heritage. By extending legal protections to include hair texture and styles, the CROWN Act aims to ensure that individuals are not denied employment or educational opportunities because of their choice to wear their hair in a way that reflects their culture and identity. As of 2024, the CROWN Act has been enacted into law in 24 states across the United States, with ongoing efforts to achieve nationwide adoption.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Full Form | Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair |
| Year | 2019 |
| Purpose | To ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles |
| Protection | Extends statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, knots, and afros |
| Applicable | Workplace and public schools |
| Current Status | Passed in 24 states and more than 40 localities |
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What You'll Learn
The meaning of CROWN
The CROWN Act stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair". It was created to address and combat hair discrimination in schools and workspaces, ensuring protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles. This includes hair textures and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, knots, and afros, which are inherent to Black culture and history.
The Act strengthens protections against hair-based discrimination by expanding the definition of race in employment, housing, and education laws to include hair as a signifier of race. This protects workers and students from hair-based racial discrimination and helps address systemic racism in these areas. The legislation aims to add safeguards to protect workers from discriminatory firing or punishment based on their expression of culture, religion, and identity through their hairstyles.
The CROWN Act was first introduced in California in 2019 by State Senator Holly J. Mitchell and has since been enacted in over 24 states and more than 40 localities. It has also been passed at the municipal level in major cities such as New Orleans, paving the way for support at the state level. The Act has gained momentum with senators in two-thirds of the states that have passed it also sponsoring the federal legislation.
The movement to pass the CROWN Act nationwide aims to make hair discrimination illegal and ensure equal opportunities for employment and education, regardless of hair texture or style. This is particularly significant for Black women, who are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from the workplace because of their hair and often feel pressured to alter their natural hair to fit into office settings. The Act seeks to address these biases and ensure respectful and open environments where individuals can express their cultural identity through their hairstyles without fear of discrimination or negative consequences.
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Why the CROWN Act was created
The CROWN Act, which stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair," was created to address hair discrimination within schools and workspaces. The legislation seeks to protect employees and students from hair-based racial discrimination by expanding the definition of race in employment, housing, and education laws to include hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots.
The act was first introduced in California in 2019 by State Senator Holly J. Mitchell and has since been passed in over 24 states and more than 40 localities, with support from various lawmakers, senators, and advocacy organizations. As of 2024, the CROWN Act has been enacted in 24 states, including Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.
The need for the CROWN Act arose from the history of hair discrimination, particularly against Black women and girls, who are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from their workplaces because of their hair. This discrimination is rooted in the historical symbolism of Black hair, with styles such as cornrows, locs, twists, and afros carrying deep connections to Black pride, culture, religion, and history. The act aims to protect individuals from being denied employment or educational opportunities due to their hair texture or protective hairstyles, ensuring a respectful and open environment for natural hair.
Additionally, the CROWN Act addresses systemic racism in the workforce and education system, helping to prevent severe consequences for Black and brown individuals, such as losing a job or facing barriers in their desired educational paths. The act provides safeguards against discriminatory firing or punishment based on an individual's expression of culture, religion, and identity through their hair. It builds on existing protections, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, including discrimination against hair texture.
The passage of the CROWN Act at both the state and federal levels is significant. While federal passage would make it a nationwide law, local and state-level adoptions are crucial in expediting protections for workers and students in those jurisdictions and building momentum for federal passage. The act represents a step towards combating racial discrimination and creating an inclusive environment where individuals can express their culture and identity through their natural hair without fear of discrimination.
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History of hair discrimination
Hair discrimination has been a tool of oppression for centuries. In the 1700s, in the state of Louisiana, a community of free Black women wore their hair in elaborate styles, which caught the attention of White men. In response, the governor of Louisiana passed the "Tignon Laws" in 1786, forcing Black women to cover their hair with a tignon, a type of headscarf typically worn by enslaved women. While the Tignon Laws were no longer enforced by the early 1800s, race-based hair discrimination continued to persist.
In the following centuries, Black individuals continued to face discrimination and scrutiny for their hairstyles, which were often deemed deviant compared to Eurocentric norms. Social pressure to conform to these norms influenced Black individuals' hair grooming decisions, with many feeling the need to alter their natural hair to avoid discrimination in schools and workplaces.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 "ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination," but it did not specifically address hair discrimination. Despite this, the first natural hair discrimination cases began appearing in the following decade. In 1976, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a race discrimination lawsuit against an employer for bias against afros, agreeing that workers were entitled to wear afros under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
However, cases of hair discrimination have continued to occur, with Black workers alleging discrimination against their natural hair in the workplace for over forty years, yielding mixed results. For example, in 2010, Chastity Jones had a job offer rescinded by Catastrophe Management Solutions because she refused to cut off her locs. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a suit on her behalf in 2013 but lost.
To address the ongoing issue of hair discrimination, the CROWN Act ("Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair") was introduced in 2019 by Senator Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-related hairstyles. The Act extends statutory protection to hair texture and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots in workplaces and public schools. As of 2024, the CROWN Act has been passed in 24 states and more than 40 localities, with advocates pushing for federal passage to make it law across the nation.
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The CROWN Act's protections
The CROWN Act, which stands for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair", was created to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-related hairstyles. The Act extends legal protection to hair texture and protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots in workplaces and schools.
The CROWN Act Protections
The Act strengthens protections against hair-based discrimination for employees and students. It does so by expanding the definition of race in employment, housing, and education laws to include hair as a signifier of race, thereby protecting workers and students from hair-based racial discrimination. The protections address systemic racism in the workforce and education and help prevent severe consequences for Black and brown individuals, such as losing a job or facing barriers in their desired educational path.
The Act specifically prohibits discrimination based on hair texture, including curly, wavy, coily, or straight hair. It also protects individuals who choose to wear their hair in protective styles such as braids, locs, twists, knots, or afros. These hairstyles often carry profound symbolism and are connected to Black pride, culture, religion, and history.
The CROWN Act aims to address and rectify historical discrimination against Black women and girls for wearing hairstyles inherent to their culture. Studies have shown that Black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from work due to their hair and are 80% more likely to alter their natural hair to fit into office settings. The Act seeks to ensure that individuals can express their culture, religion, and identity through their hair without facing discrimination or scrutiny.
As of 2024, the CROWN Act has been enacted in 24 states, with major cities like New Orleans, Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland Heights, and Columbus leading the way for state-level passage. The Act has also been introduced at the federal level, with the United States House of Representatives passing it in 2022 and 2023, but it has not yet passed in the Senate.
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The CROWN Act's progress
The CROWN Act, which stands for "Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair", was created in 2019 to protect people from discrimination based on their hairstyles, which are often inherent to their culture and identity. This law seeks to address the long-standing issue of hair-based racial discrimination in workplaces and schools, ensuring that people of colour are not unfairly scrutinised or discriminated against because of their natural hair.
The CROWN Act has seen notable progress since its creation in 2019. As of 2024, it has been passed in 24 states across the country, with major cities like New Orleans, Philadelphia, and cities in Ohio, Missouri, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania leading the way by passing the law at the local level. This local momentum has paved the way for state-level support and legislation.
At the federal level, the CROWN Act was reintroduced in April and May 2024 by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), respectively. It initially passed with a vote of 235 to 189 in March 2023. The Act has also gained support from prominent figures like Esi Eggleston Bracey, President of Unilever USA and CEO of North America Personal Care, who emphasised the need to make hair discrimination illegal nationwide.
The CROWN Act has also been introduced and passed at the state level by several legislators. Senator Holly J. Mitchell first introduced and named the Act in California, and it was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom within six months. The Act has also been passed in Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Michigan, and 16 other states, with senators from two-thirds of these states sponsoring the federal legislation. This indicates a positive trend and growing support for the Act across the nation.
The progress of the CROWN Act signifies a collective effort to address hair-based discrimination and protect the cultural expression and identity of people of colour, especially Black women, in the workplace and schools.
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Frequently asked questions
The CROWN Act is an acronym for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair".
The CROWN Act was created to ensure protection against discrimination based on race-based hairstyles.
The CROWN Act expands the definition of race in employment, housing, and education laws to include hair texture and protective hairstyles.
The CROWN Act protects workers and students from hair-based racial discrimination.
As of 2024, the CROWN Act has been enacted in 24 states and more than 40 localities.
