Photographs by Sam Kim // Illustration by Meredith Fisher
The political ascent of Rep. Ayanna Pressley captivated the nation’s attention in the 2018 midterm elections. The Dorchester native’s victory unseated a 10-term political fixture of Massachusetts’ 7th congressional District. Her entrance into this new decade, and the milestone of two years in office, began with a personal and physical revelation: Her journey with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. It stripped Pressley of her famous, side-swept Senegalese twists.
Pressley’s historic emergence into Congress extended to being part of one of the most diverse generations of women elected to the House of Representatives. Pressley is one of the coined freshman congresswomen of “The Squad”, along with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). They hit Capitol Hill with newly-minted political power, an unyielding desire to create change, and the task of pursuing what they view as best for American communities. As one of only a few congresswomen brave enough to combat the scrutiny of wearing their natural hair or protective styles, Pressley’s hair soon became synonymous with her political persona and affirmed her position as a proponent of hair positivity.
In early December of 2019, she collaborated with Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) to tackle loopholes in existing federal legislation that allows hair discrimination to persist. Her involvement with the C.R.O.W.N. Act, or the “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair” Act, would ban discrimination based on hairstyles and textures commonly associated with a specific race or nationality. Specifically, it clarifies at a federal level that “discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles associated with people of African descent … is a prohibited form of racial or national origin discrimination.”
Their commissioned study is referenced to inform about the astounding statistics that illustrate the need for the proposed legislation. The 2019 Dove C.R.O.W.N. study evaluated 2,000 women of Black and white descent across the United States, ranging from ages 25 to 64. More than half of Black women surveyed were more likely to be sent home from their workplace because of their hair. An additional 30 percent of Black women believed they needed to change their natural hair to fit more Eurocentric standards at work.
Unveiled at the beginning of December last year, the press release included Pressley’s reasoning for why this bill is necessary: It fulfills her desire to encourage everyone, especially the Black community, to “stand in their truth” wherever they are — throughout educational environments, the workplace, and as she does with her braids in Congress.
Then, in a seven-minute, instantaneously viral video published on The Root, Pressley revealed an emotional hair loss journey. As Pressley said in the Jan. 26 video, she did not expect the “the acceptance, and the community, and the affirmation” borne from the trademark her hair became. Rather, she donned a wig as she told viewers of how the empowerment she gained from the support and praise for boldly and publicly wearing her twists took a blow.
Pressley’s visibility as a political figure allowed Black women to feel more accurately represented, making the inevitable result that she would lose all of her hair even more so devastating. Upon removing the wig as she reached that climax of her story, Pressley vowed to continue that trend for another sector of people — those who suffer against the stigma this common illness evokes.
Alopecia areata is the medical definition for baldness, affecting approximately 6.8 million Americans. Currently incurable, the autoimmune disorder causes the body to attack its hair follicles, drastically weakening healthy production to the point of stunting hair growth entirely. Scientific research aimed at evaluating the racial disparities among those diagnosed with alopecia is limited. However, of important studies that exist — such as the Boston University survey from 2016 and a more recent study by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in July of 2019 — there is a consensus that African Americans experience alopecia at a higher rate than other racial identities. It is the number one cause of hair loss in Black American women.
By Dec. 17, 2019, the night before the House of Representatives was due to vote on the Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump, a private, pivotal moment occurred: The last of Pressley’s hair fell out. When she spoke on the House floor in support of the historic impeachment of President Trump, Pressley opened up to viewers about the struggle of hiding her inner turmoil. The demands of her heavy workload as a member of Congress forced Pressley to invent creative ways to conceal her secret, and initially, her shame.
Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley at a Cambridge Town Hall Feb. 19, 2020
On the morning of the vote, Pressley was unable to immediately mourn a loss that transformed her. But on Jan. 30, two weeks after her courageous announcement, Pressley emerged on the House floor with her new bald look — a testament to her authenticity and resilience in the face of an individual struggle she intentionally made public.
Pressley’s revelation furthers a rarely discussed conversation concerning the complexity of a Black woman’s hair journey. Rather than merely publishing a statement or not mentioning it entirely, Pressley’s choice to film this moment allowed her to reach even more Black women who see their experiences represented in her, as well as those who now share the alopecia journey.
Alopecia is a new chapter in Pressley’s hair story, but it remains part of the larger story she hopes to tell in destigmatizing the personal and political aspects of Black women’s hair.
For Pressley, her tenure as a congresswoman will always be marked by the inspiration she is to women across the country. As she captioned this video in her Instagram post, “However you show up in the world, you are beautiful and you are enough.”