"GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Tuesday signed the CROWN Act into law, making Massachusetts the 18th state to ban discrimination based on “natural hairstyles.”
The governor held a joyous bill signing ceremony in his office, surrounded by advocates and lawmakers, the first such ceremony in his office since before the pandemic.
The bill was prompted in part by the story of Mya and Deanna Cook, then-15-year-old twins who were disciplined in 2017 because they wore box braids to school at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden. The girls said wearing braids was part of their culture and was necessary to keep their natural hair healthy when they decided to no longer straighten their hair. The school said the braids were prohibited under their policy banning hair extensions and “drastic or unnatural” hair styles. The school only relented after Attorney General Maura Healey got involved. "
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| Deanna Cook (left) became emotional while speaking, after Governor Charlie Baker signed the CROWN Act at the Massachusetts State House on Tuesday. The act bars discrimination on the basis of a person’s natural hairstyle or hair texturePAT GREENHOUSE/GLOBE STAFF |
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