The Crown Act: Black Hair & History
Sponsored by Senator Corey Booker, the Crown Act was enacted in 2022 to prohibit discrimination based on a person’s hair texture or hairstyle “if that style or texture is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin”.[1] For African Americans, discrimination of this type has been a particular and historic issue. Sculptor Preston Jackson, noted in his interview for The HistoryMakers, of his inability to belong at Millikin University: “I fought so hard to belong, to be accepted, I even cut a part in my hair couldn't comb it in you know… didn't work that way, (laughter) cut a part in my hair and wore glasses to look you know.”[2] Preston, in contrast, felt a sense of belonging once he was at Southern Illinois University: “the sisters were there carrying their bags on their hips like that. And these huge beehive hairdos that were, Negro beehive hairdos, a little bit stiffer, and a little bit something else. And bright lipstick on dark skin… I never seen anything so beautiful. I started drawing them.”[3] Reverend Marcus Garvey Wood, the long-time pastor of Baltimore’s Providence Baptist Church, spoke of similar struggles: “Well…we couldn't change our complexion, neither the texture of our hair…. They all had curly hair and we used to envy them because we wondered why we didn't have curly hair and we found out that they had curly hair because their parents, their father was a Jew or Italian or something of that nature, and… the children were light complected. We called them 'Jew boys' and--a lot of things. We'd go home and ask our parents, why are we like this and she's like that?”[4] Julius Wayne Dudley, the former vice president of the Phelps Stokes Fund, added: “There was a standard practice that the children of prominent families, well-connected, pretty ones, that meant light-skinned with soft hair or the ones usually singled out for the college tracks… therefore some of my classmates secured ten, fifteen scholarships… you know some huge number when in fact they can only take one. And everyone knew that the person was going to Morehouse [College, Atlanta, Georgia] or Spelman [College, Atlanta, Georgia]. Oh, she got a scholarship from Vassar [College, Poughkeepsie, New York]. She got a scholarship from Yale [University, New Haven, Connecticut].... and I said, wow, what is this? Ten or twelve folk getting all the scholarships.”[5]
Pexels, https://www.pexels.com/search/afro%20hair/
Education administrator George McKenna III, notes: “There were a whole caste system in New Orleans of light-skinned blacks that were treated somewhat differently by white people and then began to treat themselves differently in relationship to black people, so there were almost--the darker complexion black people. And there was like this buffer and so in order to pick on black people, you had to pick on all black people. Well some of us in that lighter complexion category had more education and were not as easily oppressed and we fought back in different ways that sustained the entire community. In ways that were different than in other communities. And unfortunately, it set up this caste system that we bought into and we separated ourselves for foolish reasons based upon complexion and there are some remnants of that even today when I hear children talk about light-skinned and good hair and foolishness like that. But that's what we inherited in those days of oppression and segregation.”[6] Dawn Wright, an oceanographer, further elaborates these points: “middle school, into high school… that was not an issue for me because in terms of my appearance, I looked like a Polynesian anyway and… there are a lot of mixtures in Hawaii and a lot of kids had mixtures… they had Hawaiian ancestry in there somewhere and it was like a very proud badge to have Hawaiian ancestry… At any rate, with my hair, although my hair was still an issue because nobody had hair like mine so everybody was fascinated with my kinky hair. The kids were always touching my hair but in terms of my skin color, my features, I passed as a Samoan or a Tongan so for the most part I was comfortable for most of my growing up.”[7]
Ronald T. Gault, who served as the CEO of business development and client relations for the J.P. Morgan branch in Johannesburg, South Africa, recounts hair discrimination: “This is the American University of Washington. So, I'm there and I'd done some work for a congressman in Wisconsin. But I knew that Bill Dawson [William L. Dawson] had offices in the building, and I'd go by to see him… I knew that there was a barbershop just below his office. And I went and I had to get a haircut… the two barbers seemed a little agitated. So, when I stepped forward to sit in the chair, one of the barbers, with a deep southern accent said, ‘Don't you step foot towards that chair. I know who you people are, and for the record, I'm not going to cut your hair.’ He assumed I was being sent by the NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] as a test case, when in reality the only thing I wanted to do was get a haircut. But I played it to the max. I said, ‘So, you're telling me you're not going to cut my hair because I'm black?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I'm telling you that. That's what I'm telling you.’ I said, ‘Do you realize who has his office just above this shop?’ He said, ‘Bill Dawson? You go and ask him where he gets his hair cut. I'm not cutting your hair.’... Art Waskow and others in the office jumped on this thing with two feet. They called the Washington Post, they called the New York Times, they called Time magazine. They had a story in the newspaper that afternoon, and a quote from me and a quote from the guy saying, ‘You know, we cut anybody's hair here.’ I went back the next day and, you know, there was a dual concern. You want to get your hair cut to bring down the barriers of discrimination, but at the heart of your concerns you wanted to get your hair cut, but you don't want this guy to sit down and mess your hair up. But they gave me a decent haircut, and we saw the thing through, and for all intents and purposes a change in practice--not so much as from what I did or said, but largely from the kind of attention that it generated in the media.’”[9] Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., a co-founder of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, spoke of the discrimination that happened with him and his friends in their arrest in the the 1971 wrongful conviction case of the Wilmington Ten: “They wouldn't allow any car to pass our bus on the way to prison, and it's a two-hour drive from Burgaw, North Carolina, to Raleigh, North Carolina. They took us to Central Prison. We got there; they processed us. Most of us had big afros. They told us that they were not gonna allow--we had to cut our hair. They weren't gonna allow us to wear afro haircuts. They strip searched us, took all of our clothes off, gave us prison clothes, and took all of our belongings.”[10]
Wilmington Ten, https://www.ourstate.com/the-1970s-the-wilmington-10/
Actress T’Keyah Crystal Keymah adds: “Like most of the black girls of my generation, I sat at the stove and hot comb and getting my ear burned and my hair burnt. And I thought that, that's what was supposed to happen, and I thought that was my avenue to beauty and acceptability, because God forbid I should try to take a picture with nappy hair. That was not allowed… there are no pictures of me with nappy hair as a child. You would think my hair was straight, because the day before picture day, day before a funeral, day before a wedding our hair was pressed hard. And like all the other black girls, I grew up thinking that what, whatever it is I am, it's got to be the opposite of pretty, 'cause I don't get pretty until my hair gets straight”.[11] Journalist Renee Poussaint (1944-2022) notes of similar notions associated with straight hair: “when I first started out, I had a ver--a short afro. And it turned out that that annoyed certain segments of the Washington [D.C.] community… As a matter of fact, one black woman wrote to me and said that, ‘If I had any pride in myself as a black woman, I would straighten my hair…’ the afro was considered inappropriate by primarily black women… it was something of a surprise to me, that reaction. But I came to understand that there was a certain segment of Washington black society that prides itself on its history and its accomplishments. And for some black women…. that meant wearing certain kinds of clothes, and having your hair done, and belonging to certain kinds of organizations; and I didn't do any of those things, so I didn't fit in. And I remember walking down the street one day, and this black woman and her daughter--I guess she was maybe about 12--came up to me and said, ‘We've been watching you, and we've come to the conclusion that you must have gotten the job because you're intelligent’--period--as opposed to intelligent and attractive. It was, you got the job 'cause you're intelligent (laughter) 'cause you're certainly not attractive. So it became a distraction; my hair became a distraction. And so eventually I gave in… I straightened it; I had it straightened.’”[12] It is because of this history and the issues such as these that the Crown Act was enacted.
Student Ambassador Update: During this week, I continued with communications about various forms of outreach. I am in the process of finalizing a meeting with two Deans, completed an interview for The HistoryMakers Wellesley Communications and Public Affairs Office, preparing for a demonstration at the Wellesley African Students Association meeting and lesson plan work with a Professor. Additionally, it was really nice to welcome in the new Student Ambassadors! Lastly, the two main search terms that I used were hair* + discrimination* which returned 94 search results and hair* belong* which returned 100 search results.
Notes
[1] https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2116
[2] Preston Jackson (The HistoryMakers A2006.168), interviewed by Larry Crowe, December 13, 2006, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 1, Preston Jackson describes his experiences at Millikin University
[3] Preston Jackson (The HistoryMakers A2006.168), interviewed by Larry Crowe, December 13, 2006, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 2, Preston Jackson describes his experiences at Southern Illinois University
[4] Reverend Marcus Garvey Wood (The HistoryMakers A2005.005), interviewed by Racine Tucker Hamilton, January 10, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 2, Marcus Garvey Wood discusses the role of skin color in his childhood community
[5] Julius Wayne Dudley (The HistoryMakers A2003.103), interviewed by Larry Crowe, May 9, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 1, Julius Wayne Dudley describes his college application process
[6] George McKenna, III (The HistoryMakers A2001.048), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, July 24, 2001, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 4, George McKenna recalls the segregated New Orleans of his childhood
[7] Dawn Wright (The HistoryMakers A2012.204), interviewed by Larry Crowe, November 27, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 4, Dawn Wright talks about the people of Hawaii and her experience while growing up there
[8] Carole Simpson (The HistoryMakers A2007.249), interviewed by Larry Crowe, September 9, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 5, Carole Simpson recalls learning about color discrimination among African Americans
[9] Ronald T. Gault (The HistoryMakers A2004.138), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 22, 2004, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 6, Ronald T. Gault describes being discriminated against while trying to get a haircut in a federal building in Washington, D.C.
[10] Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. (The HistoryMakers A2004.267), interviewed by Racine Tucker Hamilton, February 2, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 2, tape 6, story 2, Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. talks about the Wilmington Ten beginning their prison sentences in 1972
[11] T'Keyah Crystal Keymah (The HistoryMakers A2004.194), interviewed by Larry Crowe, February 23, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 3, tape 12, story 4, T'Keyah Crystal Keymah talks about her book, "Natural Woman/Natural Hair: A Hair Journey"
[12] Renee Poussaint (The HistoryMakers A2013.036), interviewed by Larry Crowe, January 16, 2013, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 6, story 2, Renee Poussaint describes anchoring for WJLA in Washington, D.C. and viewers' scrutiny of her appearance, pt. 1
