SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating a Respectful 
and Open World for Natural Hair Act of 2020’’ or the 
‘‘CROWN Act of 2020’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS; PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) Throughout United States history, society 
has used (in conjunction with skin color) hair tex-
ture and hairstyle to classify individuals on the basis 
of race. 
(2) Like one’s skin color, one’s hair has served 
as a basis of race and national origin discrimination. 
(3) Racial and national origin discrimination 
can and do occur because of longstanding racial and 
national origin biases and stereotypes associated 
with hair texture and style. 
(4) For example, routinely, people of African 
descent are deprived of educational and employment 
opportunities because they are adorned with natural 
or protective hairstyles in which hair is tightly coiled 
or tightly curled, or worn in locs, cornrows, twists, 
braids, Bantu knots, or Afros. 
(5) Racial and national origin discrimination is 
reflected in school and workplace policies and prac-
tices that bar natural or protective hairstyles com-
monly worn by people of African descent.
(6) For example, as recently as 2018, the 
United States Armed Forces had grooming policies 
that barred natural or protective hairstyles that 
servicewomen of African descent commonly wear and 
that described these hairstyles as ‘‘unkempt’’. 
(7) In 2018, the United States Armed Forces 
rescinded these policies and recognized that this de-
scription perpetuated derogatory racial stereotypes. 
(8) The United States Armed Forces also rec-
ognized that prohibitions against natural or protec-
tive hairstyles that African-American servicewomen 
are commonly adorned with are racially discrimina-
tory and bear no relationship to African-American 
servicewomen’s occupational qualifications and their 
ability to serve and protect the Nation. 
(9) As a type of racial or national origin dis-
crimination, discrimination on the basis of natural 
or protective hairstyles that people of African de-
scent are commonly adorned with violates existing 
Federal law, including provisions of the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), section 1977 
of the Revised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1981), and the 
Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.). How-
ever, some Federal courts have misinterpreted Fed-
eral civil rights law by narrowly interpreting the
meaning of race or national origin, and thereby per-
mitting, for example, employers to discriminate 
against people of African descent who wear natural 
or protective hairstyles even though the employment 
policies involved are not related to workers’ ability to 
perform their jobs. 
(10) Applying this narrow interpretation of race 
or national origin has resulted in a lack of Federal 
civil rights protection for individuals who are dis-
criminated against on the basis of characteristics 
that are commonly associated with race and national 
origin. 
(11) In 2019 and 2020, State legislatures and 
municipal bodies throughout the United States have 
introduced and passed legislation that rejects certain 
Federal courts’ restrictive interpretation of race and 
national origin, and expressly classifies race and na-
tional origin discrimination as inclusive of discrimi-
nation on the basis of natural or protective hair-
styles commonly associated with race and national 
origin. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) the Federal Government should acknowl-
edge that individuals who have hair texture or wear
a hairstyle that is historically and contemporarily as-
sociated with African Americans or persons of Afri-
can descent systematically suffer harmful discrimi-
nation in schools, workplaces, and other contexts 
based upon longstanding race and national origin 
stereotypes and biases; 
(2) a clear and comprehensive law should ad-
dress the systematic deprivation of educational, em-
ployment, and other opportunities on the basis of 
hair texture and hairstyle that are commonly associ-
ated with race or national origin; 
(3) clear, consistent, and enforceable legal 
standards must be provided to redress the wide-
spread incidences of race and national origin dis-
crimination based upon hair texture and hairstyle in 
schools, workplaces, housing, federally funded insti-
tutions, and other contexts; 
(4) it is necessary to prevent educational, em-
ployment, and other decisions, practices, and policies 
generated by or reflecting negative biases and 
stereotypes related to race or national origin; 
(5) the Federal Government must play a key 
role in enforcing Federal civil rights laws in a way 
that secures equal educational, employment, and
other opportunities for all individuals regardless of 
their race or national origin; 
(6) the Federal Government must play a central 
role in enforcing the standards established under 
this Act on behalf of individuals who suffer race or 
national origin discrimination based upon hair tex-
ture and hairstyle; 
(7) it is necessary to prohibit and provide rem-
edies for the harms suffered as a result of race or 
national origin discrimination on the basis of hair 
texture and hairstyle; and 
(8) it is necessary to mandate that school, 
workplace, and other applicable standards be applied 
in a nondiscriminatory manner and to explicitly pro-
hibit the adoption or implementation of grooming re-
quirements that disproportionately impact people of 
African descent. 
(c) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to institute 
definitions of race and national origin for Federal civil 
rights laws that effectuate the comprehensive scope of pro-
tection Congress intended to be afforded by such laws and 
Congress’ objective to eliminate race and national origin 
discrimination in the United States.
SEC. 3. FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No individual in the United 
States shall be excluded from participation in, be denied 
the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under, 
any program or activity receiving Federal financial assist-
ance, based on the individual’s hair texture or hairstyle, 
if that hair texture or that hairstyle is commonly associ-
ated with a particular race or national origin (including 
a hairstyle in which hair is tightly coiled or tightly curled, 
locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, and Afros). 
(b) ENFORCEMENT.—Subsection (a) shall be en-
forced in the same manner and by the same means, includ-
ing with the same jurisdiction, as if such subsection was 
incorporated in title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 
(42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), and as if a violation of sub-
section (a) was treated as if it was a violation of section 
601 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d). 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘program or activity’’ has the 
meaning given the term in section 606 of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d–4a); and 
(2) the terms ‘‘race’’ and ‘‘national origin’’ 
mean, respectively, ‘‘race’’ within the meaning of the 
term in section 601 of that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000d) 
and ‘‘national origin’’ within the meaning of the 
term in that section 601.