User:Eiram2/African-American hair

In Rogers v. American Airlines (1981), Renee Rogers, a Black female flight attendant, sued her employer American Airlines for prohibiting her from wearing cornrows and braids at work. The court dismissed Rogers' arguments that ban was discriminatory based on race and sex, and ruled in favor of American Airlines. The ban prohibited braids and dreadlocks in favor of a bun style, which can be a challenge to achieve with afro-textured hair that has not been straightened with heat or chemicals. Since the late 20th century, many restrictions have been loosened, and professional African-American women now wear a wider variety of hairstyles.

In 2014, the United States Army implemented a ban on predominantly Black hairstyles. The ban includes dreadlocks, large cornrows and twists. The rationale for this decision is that the aforementioned hairstyles look unkempt, with kempt hair being implicitly defined as straight hair. African-American women in the Army may be forced to choose between small cornrows and chemically processing their hair, if their natural hair is not long enough to fit a permitted hairstyle.

Discrimination in Schools
More and more African American students have been discriminated against because of their hair in their schools. African American students are disciplined at a much higher rate than their other ethnic counter-parts. They are also more likely to be disciplined because their natural hair styles are deemed not appropriate or distracting by their schools dress code. Even African American athletes are being discriminated against during games.

In 2018, African American wrestler Andrew Johnson was told by his white referee, Alan Mahoney, that he needed to cut his dreads or forfeit his match. That same night videos and pictures began to surface online of Andrew having his dreads cut off with a pair of scissors. This sparked public outrage online, with some people questioning why Johnson was able to play in matches prior to this one and not have any problems. People began to question Mahoney's call during the match; some saying that the ultimatum was derived from racism. In 2016, Mahoney was accused of calling his fellow referee a racial slur. Since this incident Mahoney was suspended from officiating for two years, and the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association and the states attorney general's office's civil rights division have opened investigations into the incident.