Evanston haircare professionals, authors, historians and food vendors came together to celebrate National CROWN Day by honoring Black hair culture at the Robert Crown Community Center on Sunday.
The holiday, officially celebrated July 3, commemorates the signing of the first Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act, which took place in California in 2019 and aimed to legally prohibit discrimination in employment, education and housing on the basis of hairstyle and texture.
In January 2023, the CROWN Act took effect in Illinois, following the Jett Hawkins Law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August 2021, which bans hairstyle discrimination in Illinois public schools. Illinois is one of 27 states, along with Washington, D.C., that have passed the legislation.
The Evanston Public Library has planned the free annual National CROWN Day celebration since 2024. This year, attendance grew to 175 participants from 24 at the inaugural event, according to event organizers.
Tracy Olasimbo, an EPL event organizer and family engagement coordinator, said the library organizes the celebration to raise awareness about hair discrimination and engage the community to sign a national petition supporting passage of the CROWN Act in all 50 states. The petition currently has 546,889 of 600,000 signatures, according to Olasimbo.
“I think folks are gonna continue to perpetrate harm if they’re not aware of what the harm looks like and why things are harmful,” Olasimbo said. “This is also an opportunity for people to understand the history of what’s been happening to specifically our Black community.”
Olasimbo said participants learned how to care for their hair, explored different products over the decades and delved into each product and its symbolic meanings, which reflect how Black people have been treated throughout history.
Some of the vendors present at the celebration included Avery’s Helpful Hair Kits, Ebony Barber Shop, Shorefront Legacy Center and Zora’s Place.
L’Oreal Thompson Payton, founder of Zora’s Place, Evanston’s only Black woman-owned bookstore, said she has participated in the event as an attendee, as a vendor in a pop-up shop and now as a staple presence.
Payton said the business is “a love letter” to her young daughter and all “little Black kids” that aims to provide books that celebrate Black hair, identity and beauty for children and families.
The celebration featured local vendors whose businesses reflect the event’s message of affirming Black identity.
Dereka Ross, founder of Reka’s Crafty Creations, sold T-shirts featuring messages such as “I Am Black History and Black Future” and “Being Black Is Priceless.”
Ross said she created the business in response to requests for personalized T-shirts from clients from her previous job as an event planner. She said she taught herself how to make the custom apparel.
She said participating in the celebration allowed her to promote messages of self-love and confidence that align with the CROWN Act’s purpose.
From books to clothes, the event featured a variety of vendors, including a Dewey Elementary School student.
Avery Jenkins, 11, founded Avery’s Helpful Hair Kits at age 6. She said she founded the business after her mother asked her to donate some of her hair products to a foster child with highly textured hair.
Jenkins said she wanted to help more children access products that would allow them to properly care for their hair. Since she started, the nonprofit has distributed more than 1,000 haircare kits to foster children, according to Jenkins’ mother, Petina Dixon (Medill ’01).
“Don’t be afraid to take action and put in the hard work to help someone,” Jenkins said. “No matter what, it’s always worth it.”
Dixon said her daughter’s work shows that “service has no age limit.”
The event included a “Hair Through the Decades” showcase, a live hair demonstration led by Ikandi Hair Studio owner Kandi Corbbins.
Corbbins demonstrated a technique she calls a “shake and go,” which she said is meant to define natural curls, reduce frizz and help the style last longer.
The event’s programming also included a “Crowning Conversations” panel discussion about haircare, identity and self-expression led by hair stylist Ariel Tesfaye. The panel featured local beauty professionals like Nkechi Iloka, founder of The Corporate Curly, Brigitte Giles, owner of Ebony Barber Shop Evanston and Tiffany Wilson, owner of Embrace Your Crown Salon.
After moderating the panel, Tesfaye reflected on the impact of the CROWN Act, which she said has expanded the space for natural hair in workplaces.
She said without the legislation, she likely would not have been allowed to wear her hair in an afro in professional settings, noting she often felt pressure to straighten her naturally textured hair to be seen as “employable.”
While she acknowledged progress, Tesfaye said challenges remain, especially in private institutions that are not covered by the law, where she said continued bias against Black men with natural hairstyles such as dreadlocks still occurs.
“The next step for us is to really have it federally,” Tesfaye said. “To have these anti-discrimination laws federally and not just state to state.”
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Related Stories:
— CROWN Act goes into effect to protect against hair discrimination in Illinois
— Dr. Wendy Greene discusses the intersection between natural hair, civil rights
— Illinois passes bill prohibiting hair discrimination in school
