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Home · Natural

#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools

The policiing of natural hair continues to make international headlines. It seems no matter where we go, black women are forced to compromise their kinks and coils in order to progress in school or the workplace. Earlier this year, we watched the hashtag #SupportThePuff catch fire after C.R. Walker Senior High School students in the Bahamas were told their natural hair was unprofessional. In an effort to prolong our support and shed more light on this issue, we look back at 7 times our hair was under attack in schools.
By Deena Campbell · Updated October 26, 2020
01
Teacher Does Child’s Hair in Classroom

Last year, an elementary school teacher took it upon herself to detangle, twist, and style her student’s hair and then posted the hairstyle on Facebook.

#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools
Getty Images
02
Vanessa VanDyke

In 2013, 12-year-old Vanessa Van Dyke was threatened with expulsion from Orlando’s Faith Christian Academy in Florida when she refused to cut her natural hair.

#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools
03
Hampton University Baned Dreadlocks

In 2012, the dean of Hampton Univ., Sid Credle, argued that baning students from wearing locs and cornrows would help students land corporate jobs while searching for employment.

#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools
Getty Images
04
Principal pulls 8th grader out of class

Last year, a 13-year-old Toronto girl was offended when her principal pulled her out of class because of her natural hair. Her aunt, Kaysie Quansah, vented her frustration on Facebook:

“This ignorant principal demonstrated firsthand the heartbreaking ideals of beauty that are forced on our little dark skinned black girls on a consistent basis. My heart is breaking for my niece and all the little girls like her who already know that there is an unspoken ideal for ‘good hair’, who already know that the darker your skin, the more undesirable you are lead to feel, that people will automatically write you off because of the way you look.”

#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools
Getty Images
05
Third Grader Bullied For Wearing Curls

In 2013, Georgia third-grader, Aolani Dunbar, made news after being bullied for wearing a hair weave to her predominately white school. Students pulled her hair so hard it left a large wound on her crown.

#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools
Getty Images
06
8-Year-Old Removed From Class for Hair Product

In 2010, an 8-year-old girl at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle, Washington was removed from her classroom after her teacher said her hair product was making her sick

#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools
Getty Images
07
Pretoria Girls High
The South Africa community and Black women from across the globe joined in to show support after it was revealed that administrators at the school’s prestigious Pretoria High School for Girls had been telling the teens to “fix” their natural hair. The protest reignited the conversation about acceptance and racially charged standards set for school-aged kids.
#SupportThePuff: 7 Times Black Hair Was Under Attack In Schools
BBC News
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