Introduction

This chapter provides the theoretical and methodological framework for the book. We show how Black women’s appearance is not just a personal decision—it also has political implications. The chapter argues for the importance of contextualizing Black women’s bodies as part of their political experiences, and it provides a broad overview of the book.

What Black Women Political Elites Look Like Matters

This chapter centers the narratives of Black women political elites to demonstrate how they think about their professional image and how they craft their look in response to voters’ expectations. A series of one-on-one interviews with Black women political elites shows that these women are deeply aware of how their bodies are assessed and that they are constantly determining how they want to present themselves. This chapter addresses Black women’s agency—how Black women prefer to look given the constraints of their physical characteristics. It also considers the political structure—how Black women believe voters and constituents view them based on their chosen appearance or styling choices. The chapter finds that Black women political elites vary in how they choose to present themselves and in their rationale for their styling choices. However, all the women interviewed recognize the racist and sexist constraints that inform their personal aesthetics.

Conclusion

The concluding chapter of this book contextualizes the political implications of Black women’s appearances for both political elites and voters. The chapter centers on Black women’s activism around natural hair and its connection to politics and policy. The natural hair movement signals not just a styling preference but also a way for Black women political elites to descriptively represent constituents. In this chapter, the authors provide a summary of the findings of their study and offer insights into Black women’s representation. The chapter ends by asking readers to assess the values that they ascribe to a Black woman political elite based on what she looks like.

Is There a Black Woman Candidate Prototype?

This chapter conducts a visual content analysis of Black women candidates’ headshots to examine whether there is a “phenotypic archetype” of Black women candidates to which Black women are exposed. Findings from an original dataset on the appearances of Black women candidates who sought office in 2018 align with prior research on colorism and representation. The chapter presents data that shows that the pool of Black women candidates skews lighter-skinned with straightened hair, and that candidates who wear braids or locs may disproportionately lose their contests. These findings suggest that Black women who seek local-level offices with natural styles like locs may find it difficult to enter political office and to rise to higher levels of office. The exploratory findings presented in the chapter illustrate a patterned preference for a certain type of Black women candidate, but it is noted that more research should be done on a larger scale to assess this trend.

Afro-Textured Hair and the CROWN Act

This chapter traces the historical development of the politics of Black women’s appearances in the United States by assessing the sociological, political, and legal forces that have built the political opportunity structure for Black women politicians. The chapter presents a thorough overview of Afro-textured hair and Black protective hairstyles to provide a primer on why Black (women’s) hair is political. Through a case study of the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act, it examines how New Jersey state lawmakers successfully passed legislation to end hair discrimination. In this chapter, we make a connection to contemporary policy and how Black women lawmakers bring uncrystallized issues to legislative bodies.

Linked Fate, Black Voters, and Black Women Candidates

This chapter examines how linked fate—a feeling of closeness to group members—may shape how Black voters respond to Black women candidates. It provides a brief review of the relevant literature on linked fate and colorism, a novel inclusion to this foundational concept in Black politics. The chapter includes colorism in an analysis of linked fate and its significance to vote choice, and it more fully fleshes out these implications for the appeal of Black women candidates to men and women voters who report a sense of linked fate. Using experimental data, the authors do not find strong evidence of heterogeneity by linked fate. The chapter ends with a discussion of how Black women candidates’ bodies influence vote choice.

Candid Conversations: Black Women Political Elites and Appearances

This chapter showcases how conversations are a generative tool to assess the differences and similarities in the aesthetic experiences of Black women political elites. The authors partnered with the Black Women’s Political Action Committee of Texas to provide the first ever scholarly focus group with Black women political elites. Through an organic conversation, they found that Black women candidates and elected officials face challenges from others, including fellow Black women, about how they choose to present themselves for political office. The authors documented generational splits in how age cohorts of Black women decide to style themselves and the political implications of these choices. Most notably, Millennial Black women political elites detailed discrimination and hostilities based on their styling preferences, often at the hands of older Black women.

Sisterly Discussions about Black Women Candidates

In this chapter, through a focus group with members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., the authors query a set of highly politically engaged Black women about the importance of appearance to this group of political elites. As a historically Black Greek Letter Organization, this sorority has, throughout its history, upheld restrictive and controlling cultural norms that disproportionately impact Black women. Yet, the authors’ findings demonstrate that while there are different preferences and tactics that Black sorority-member voters think are most useful for other Black women to gain elected office, those voters are uniform in their desire to see successful Black women political elites. The authors also observe a generational split regarding the perceived political implications for Black women candidates with natural hair, which the focus group participants tie back to respectability politics. The chapter concludes by highlighting the differences in how younger Black sorority members think about the politics of appearance and the implications for these differences for the future of Black women political elites.

Voter Responses to Black Women Candidates

This chapter presents findings from two survey experiments on Black voters. As many Black candidates run in majority-minority districts, the chapter’s focus on Black voters approximates realistic scenarios. Experiment 1 focuses on Black voters’ evaluations of a single candidate as her skin tone and hairstyle are varied, and Experiment 2 focuses on Black Democratic voters’ evaluations of two Black women candidates to determine whether appearances have the potential to split Black Democrats’ votes. Experiment 2 approximates real-world scenarios like the 2019 mayoral election in Chicago between Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle. This chapter speaks to how Black voters evaluate Black women candidates who vary in phenotype.