Styling Civil Rights: The Effect of § 1981 and the Public Accommodations Act on Black Women’s Access to White Stylists and Salons

Posted on Oct 29, 2010

By Constance Dionne Russell

“We must challenge the rigid ways of the past, recognizing–as Judge Benjamin Cardozo declared in 1932–that ‘the agitations and the promptings of a changing civilization’ demand more flexible legal forms and demand equally ‘jurisprudence and philosophy adequate to justify the change.’”

White stylists and salons have denied service to Black women for at least the past seventeen years. This exclusion is reminiscent of the Reconstruction and Civil Rights eras, when states, individuals, and businesses discriminated against Blacks and ultimately labeled Blacks with the “badges and incidents of slavery and involuntary servitude.” The segregation perpetrated by salons not only affects the psyche of Black women but may also cause Black women to feel inferior. Ultimately, the denial of service to Black women by White stylists and salons diminishes the effects of the laws enacted by the congressional legislature to promote equality and individual civil rights.

Ironically, the United States of America prides itself as a country promoting “liberty and justice for all.” Indeed, the American flag, which represents the “proud traditions of freedom, of equal opportunity,” combined with the Pledge of Allegiance, “foster [this] national unity and pride.”8 Inherent in these principles is the belief that everyone is entitled to equal treatment. Therefore, Black women naturally should expect to walk into any salon and receive service from any hair stylist, even a White stylist, without incident.

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