Faculty Lecture: Antiblack Hair Injustice: History, Law, and Politics

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In 1971, Beverly Jeanne Jenkins filed a lawsuit against her employer, Blue Cross Mutual Hospital Insurance, Inc., for violating her civil rights under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. In Jenkins v. Blue Cross Mutual Hospital Insurance, Inc. (1976), the Court ruled in her favor. Jenkins was a landmark case for two reasons: (1) the ruling meant that a precedence was set for showing how discrimination based on hair is covered in Title VII legislation; and (2) yet, the ruling did not set a precedence for future cases, with courts arguing that Black hair discrimination was not protected under Title VII. Instead of viewing antiblack hair discrimination as an extension of racial discrimination, rulings after Jenkins argued that black hairstyles, unlike skin color, are not mutable characteristics. In other words, courts essentially argued Black people do not come out of the womb with braids, dreadlocks, cornrows, and twists. In this talk, I tell the story of the roots of antiblack hair injustice, as well as how it operates in the contemporary period during the era of integration. 

Faculty Speaker: Dr. Ingrid Banks, Associate Professor in the Department of Black Studies AND Associate Dean in the Division of Social Sciences

Dr. Banks is the author of Hair Matters: Beauty, Power, and Black Women’s Consciousness (New York University Press, 2000). She is currently completing her next book, Protective Style. 

Faculty lectures are a way for you to explore UCSB curriculum from the comfort of your own home. These live sessions are open to the community!