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Dismantling Discriminatory Hairstyle Rules
Targeting Young Black Athletes Violates Massachusetts’ New “Crown Act
Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) issued a demand letter to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), an organization that creates and enforces high school athletic rules, requesting immediate action to stop discriminatory hairstyle policies that violate Massachusetts’ new “Crown Act.”
The letter cites the case of three Black middle school girl basketball players in Clinton, Massachusetts, who were singled out and told by a referee—citing NFHS rules—that they would be ineligible to play in an upcoming game unless they tied back their long box braids. No white players were given this same instruction, including those whose hair fell past their shoulders. As authority for his decision, the official cited a NFHS rule that requires “[h]air adornments” to be fastened close to the head—even though the players’ braids were their natural hair.
The demand letter outlines how discriminatory enforcement of this NFHS rule violates the recently enacted Massachusetts Crown Act, which prohibits discrimination in workplaces, school districts, and school-related organizations based on hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists.
“To many Black people, their hair and their identity are one in the same, and to them, an attack on their hair is an attack on their identity,” said Attorney Erika Richmond of Lawyers for Civil Rights. Attorney Richmond added that making Black children feel ashamed of their hair causes irreparable harm to their forming identities.
The letter demands that NFHS take immediate remedial steps, including revising the rule to make clear that it does not cover natural hairstyles and training all NFHS officials on compliance with the Crown Act.