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This recent hair debacle made me recall something I had read about the Tignon Laws so I went looking again...
The Tignon Laws of 1786 were laws that banned black women from exposing their natural hair in public.
(Yes, you read right.)
The Tignon Laws of 1786 were laws that banned black women from exposing their natural hair in public.
(Yes, you read right.)
A tignon (pronounced tiyon) is a large piece of material tied or wrapped around the head to form a kind of turban that somewhat resembles the West African Gele. It was worn by Creolewomen of African descent in Louisiana beginning in the Spanish colonial period to the present day
TIGNON LAWS
This headdress was the result of sumptuary laws passed in 1786 under the administration of Governor Esteban Rodriguez Miró. Called the tignon laws, they prescribed and enforced oppressive public dress for female gens de couleur in colonial society.
This headdress was the result of sumptuary laws passed in 1786 under the administration of Governor Esteban Rodriguez Miró. Called the tignon laws, they prescribed and enforced oppressive public dress for female gens de couleur in colonial society.
Historian Virginia M. Gould notes that Miró hoped the law would control women “who had become too light skinned or who dressed too elegantly, or who, in reality, competed too freely with white women for status and thus threatened the social order.” (Yes, u read right again)
But you know black women invented swag right? Miró's intent of having the tignon mark inferiority had a somewhat different effect, according to historian Carolyn Long who noted: "Instead of being considered a badge of dishonor, the tignon became a fashion statement.
The bright reds, blues, and yellows of the scarves, and the imaginative wrapping techniques employed by their wearers, are said to have enhanced the beauty of the women of color."
The women who were targets of this decree were inventive & imaginative. They decorated tignons with their jewels and ribbons, and used the finest available materials to wrap their hair. In other words, "they effectively re-interpreted the law without technically breaking the law"
Kinda sad that the policing of black hair continues to this day, well over 2 centuries later
It’s worse sad that the policing is often times being done by us
It’s worse sad that the policing is often times being done by us
