CROWN Act mural

Title

CROWN Act mural

Artist

Candice Taylor

Location

On side wall of Busboys and Poets, 2004 Martin Luther King Jr, Ave SE, Washington DC 20020

Background discussion

https://www.busboysandpoets.com/a-reflective-minute-the-crown-act-mural-unveiling-in-anacostia/

Visual description

In front of a large pink background, five women of color, all wearing ‘natural’ (non-straightened) hairstyles, each sport a golden crown. Facial features are shown, including eyebrows, although in all cases their eyes are not depicted. In the lower left and right corners, several flowers bloom. A painted caption expresses support for the CROWN Act, with a link to thecrownact.com website.

The website explains: The CROWN Act, which stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair,” is a law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination, which is the denial of employment and educational opportunities because of “hair texture or protective hairstyles such as braids, locs, twists, and knots.”   The act has been introduced repeatedly in Congress, but is not yet law. 

The attendant in the parking lot, over which the mural stands, explains that the mural is popular in the neighborhood and that many people stop by to photograph it. 

Note that Candice Taylor also participated in the creation of a mural across the street, “Onward and Upward We Go”.

Interpretive Notes

The blooming flowers and the plants in the lower corners of the image presumably celebrate the values of 'nature’ and the energy and optimism exhibited by the women. The crowns they wear suggest, in an Afrocentric sense, that they possess the self-confidence and sovereignty of royalty in its broadest sense.  More broadly, overlooking a busy thoroughfare and business district at the heart of Anacostia, the mural celebrates the dynamism and optimism of a sophisticated, cosmopolitan community.

Prompts for close looking:

1. Why has artist Candice Taylor not chosen to depict the eyes of the young women?  (You might consider that it is sometimes said that “the eyes are the windows to the soul.”) Might it be that in this case the artist is redirecting our attention from the eyes to the hairstyle as the essence of a person’s individuality and spiritual interiority? See: https://eshvion.com/

2. The CROWN Act aims to protect the hair-wearing rights of all people, of all ages and genders. Why do you think the artist as chosen to emphasize young women?  Are they in effect blooming flowers whose natural energies should be most nurtured and protected?  Is the goal in particular to give Black girls a sense of a positive future founded on pride and self-expression?

3. Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates defines racism as the denial of the rights of people of color to own their own bodies.  In what respects does this mural celebrate the rights of Black people to own and control their own bodies and bodily expression? 

4. The mural adorns the side wall of Busboys and Poets, a restaurant and bookstore dedicated to the memory of Langston Hughes. How does the imagery of the mural and the CROWN act resonate with themes in Hughes’ own poetry such as the poem "Fascination" which proclaims "Her hair is a midnight mass, a dusky aurora";  “Prayer”, in which the poet asks, “Which crown to put/Upon my hair?  or “America” in which he references the Black self as “I of the dark eyes/and the crinkly hair.” 

5. Can you think of other poems and forms of writing that celebrate Black hair?