When CROWN acts stall in states, cities step in to ban hair discrimination

ST.LOUIS – For Leslie Hughes, it’s important that any of us showing up at work or school can show up as ourselves.

If the goal is to grow, learn and evolve, “that’s a space that we should feel comfortable showing up as we are,” said Hughes, who grew up in St. Louis and founded a nonprofit that champions self-love and natural beauty. But Black people across the country continue to face hair discrimination, whether through rules that force them away from natural hairstyles, or through the denial of opportunities based on stereotypes around their appearances.

A push to ban race-based hair discrimination has gained momentum in recent years. Since the first CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act) passed in 2019 in California, more than 20 states have moved to pass similar legislation, including this year in Texas and Michigan. July 3 is celebrated as Crown Day, or Black Hair Independence Day.

A national version of the CROWN Act passed the U.S. House last year, but failed in the Senate. Twenty-seven states, including Missouri, where Hughes lives, have not passed such legislation. In lieu of a statewide bill, which in Missouri has failed to advance multiple times, dozens of cities have passed their own policies. In Missouri, Kansas City’s city council voted unanimously to pass its own CROWN Act in 2020. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones signed a similar measure a year later.

READ MORE: Michigan bans hairstyle discrimination in workplaces and schools

These local protections are critical, said Hughes, who created Frizz Fest, a celebration of natural hair taking place for the sixth year in St. Louis’ Tower Grove Park this September.

“Black women especially, a lot of times get into these environments that we feel like we have to dim our light and then…. we can’t really live to our fullest potential,” Hughes said. “That really hinders a person’s self-love.”

How CROWN legislation started

The first CROWN Act was a response to “employment policies and school policies that were punishing people who had hair texture like mine, pretty much punishing people of African descent, and prohibiting people from wearing their hair in the natural state,” said Kimberly Norwood, a professor at Washington University School of Law.

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J., introduced a federal CROWN Act in 2022. It passed 235 to 189, with 14 Republicans joining all Democrats. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) took it to the Senate, but it failed. It must be reintroduced to get another vote.

Norwood said part of the challenge is access to public comment. It’s not always possible for advocates to show up to state hearings on short notice, she said, and while she and others have submitted written testimony, “I believe that if we could get in front of people and make the case in person, we’d have a much better shot at it,” she said.

WATCH MORE: How hair discrimination impacts Black Americans in their personal lives and the workplace

Earlier this year, three Black Missouri state lawmakers who introduced versions of the CROWN Act — Reps. LakeySha Bosley, Ashley Bland Manlove and Raychel Proudie, all Democrats — testified before the House Special Committee on Urban Issues. The Missouri Independent reported Republicans on the committee raised concerns about safety in certain environments, or opening the door to litigation on issues that have nothing to do with hair, but that Rep. Mark Sharp said the committee “will be dedicated to trying to find whatever version will be best.”

For Norwood, who has spent years researching disparities and bias affecting Black people, what states must ask themselves is what the actual argument is against protecting people further under the law.

“Why am I being told that automatically the way my hair grows out of its scalp is unacceptable? It’s marginalizing. It’s othering,” she said.

Workplace discrimination is sometimes top of mind when CROWN legislation comes into wider discussion, but the policy also addresses discrimination in schools, something Norwood and others have paid attention to for many years. In 2019, Princeton University released a wide-ranging study examining racial bias in K-12 school discipline. Researchers used data covering 32 million students in 96,000 schools throughout the United States.

Princeton researchers found that “Black students experienced higher rates of suspension, expulsion, in-school arrests and law enforcement referrals than white students.”

“Kids are being denied the right to graduate, even though they went to school every day, even though they did the work, they passed the test. People aren’t getting job offers because of their hair, not because it’s not clean, unkempt, but because it’s in braids. Because it’s in an afro, because it’s in locs,” Norwood told the NewsHour. “That is something that is pretty connected to African descended people, so it’s a real targeted form of discrimination that woefully [and] negatively impacts Black Americans in particular.”

Facing hair discrimination is an experience Norwood said can have damaging effects on young people’s self-esteem.

Hughes said the idea for starting a nonprofit dedicated to self-love and natural hair came to her back in 2017, not long after suffering a monumental loss.

“I had recently lost my mother and all of my aunts and my grandmother,” she said. “So I really just was in a space where I needed something to pull me out of that and to keep going, and something that poured that love back into me.”

Originally she was hoping to hold an event that drew her family and some friends to celebrate loving themselves and their natural hair. However, what started as an idea to bring together women in her community blossomed into a full-fledged festival that now draws thousands of people.

At this year’s festival, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Mya is a featured guest and will perform. They also feature local food and merchandise vendors

“Our hair is who we are … It’s part of our heritage, our ancestors,” she said.

“I say a lot of times, if I can just inspire one person, I’m good with that,” she added.

Even short of statewide legislation, Norwood is glad to see the community rejecting discrimination and “marching towards this goal of equity and equality.”

“We can never give up, you know, I mean, the task may be daunting and things might look hopeless, but you just can never give up,” she said.