C.R.O.W.N.-Creating an Open and Respectful World for Natural Hair

This is a multimedia project that is comprised of a short form documentary, a digital article and a reflection essay. The main part of this thesis project is a documentary shot, edited, voiced and produced by Nicole Shinn. The documentary focuses on the CROWN Act, a piece of legislation created in 2019 meant to ban natural hair discrimination. Since 2019, the CROWN Act has passed in over 14 states and 10 cities, including Tucson and Tempe, Arizona most recently. The six minute and 30 second long documentary seeks to educate people on the CROWN Act, what it does, what natural hair discrimination is, how this act has been impactful in Arizona and what national implications it has for legal protections against natural hair discrimination, as well as social acceptance of hair that is different from the Eurocentric standard. The documentary is accompanied by a digital news style article. The article focuses on the stories of a natural hair stylist in Tempe, and two activists in Tempe and Tucson who were instrumental in getting the CROWN Act passed in those cities. The article looks further into why natural hair is so important to the Black community, the struggle Black Americans have faced regarding this discrimination and how members of the Black communities in Tucson and Tempe worked to fight for the right to express themselves through their hair free of discrimination. Lastly, the reflection essay is meant to preface the entire project. To give the viewer a better understanding of how and why I pursued this topic and these mediums for my thesis/creative project. The reflection also walks through what I struggled with, what I learned and what this project means to me and other people that look like me.