“Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown”: A Critical Race Analysis of the CROWN Act

Black hair in the United States remains misunderstood and othered against Eurocentric standards of beauty and professionalism as evidenced by the ongoing policing of Black hair in schools and workplaces. The CROWN Act of 2019 was passed in several states to protect Black adults and children from hair-biased discrimination, and was introduced to the United States Congress in December 2019. In September 2020, the CROWN Act passed in the US House of Representatives, however, it has not been passed in the Senate, yet. In this paper, I provide a critical race analysis of hair policies and challenges collected from news articles, the CROWN Research Study, and testimonies in support of the CROWN Act to demonstrate the importance of this bill’s passing at the federal level.