FOCUS
Ayanna Pressley’s Alopecia Revelation
WRITTEN BY MELISSA WELLS // ILLUSTRATIONS BY MEREDITH FISHER
Resonates With Her Cultural And Political Audience The political ascent of Rep. Ayanna Pressley captivated the nation’s attention in the 2018 midterm elections. The Dorchester native’s victory unseated a 10-term political fixture of Massachusetts’ 7th congressional District. Her entrance into this new decade, and the milestone of two years in office, began with a personal and physical revelation: Her journey with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. It stripped Pressley of her famous, side-swept Senegalese twists. Pressley’s historic emergence into Congress extended to being part of one of the most diverse generations of women elected to the House of Representatives. Pressley is one of the coined freshman congresswomen of “The Squad,” along with Rep. Alexandria OcasioCortez (D-NY), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). They hit Capitol Hill with newlyminted political power, an unyielding desire to create change, and the task of pursuing what they view as best for American communities. As one of only a few congresswomen brave enough to combat the scrutiny of wearing their natural hair or protective styles, Pressley’s hair soon became synonymous with her political persona and affirmed her position as a proponent of hair positivity.
22
In early December of 2019, she collaborated with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to tackle loopholes in existing federal legislation that allows hair discrimination to persist. Her involvement with the C.R.O.W.N. Act, or the “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair” Act, would ban discrimination based on hairstyles and textures commonly associated with a specific race or nationality. Specifically, it clarifies at a federal level that “discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles associated with people of African descent … is a prohibited form of racial or national origin discrimination.” Their commissioned study is referenced to inform about the astounding statistics that illustrate the need for the proposed legislation. The 2019 Dove C.R.O.W.N. study evaluated 2,000 women of Black and White descent across the United States, ranging from ages 25 to 64. More than half of Black women surveyed were more likely to be sent home from their workplace because of their hair. An additional 30 percent of Black women believed they needed to change their natural hair to fit more Eurocentric standards at work.
