Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the CROWN act into law Wednesday. The law includes hair in the Illinois definition of race, and makes it illegal to discriminate against employees who have natural hair, or wear it in protective hairstyles like braids, locs or twists.
According to a press release from the bill’s sponsor, Illinois State Senator Mattie Hunter, 80% of Black women felt like they needed to change their hairstyles to be more accepted in the workplace.
“So much of our identity has been wrapped into our hair, and the way we wear it has been judged for centuries,” Hunter said. “The CROWN Act shouldn’t have been necessary in the land of the ‘free’, but its implementation will protect people from petty discrimination.”
The CROWN Act has been passed in other states, first in California. Many Black women report being fired or harassed for wearing their hair naturally or in protective styles.
Pritzker signed a similar bill into law in 2021, which banned discrimination based on hair in schools statewide. The new legislation takes effect in January 2023.