Natural hair club in Harlem teaches 4th graders how to love their locks
Discrimination against natural hair and hairstyles became illegal in New York in 2019 with the passage of the CROWN Act. Now, a local school is teaching students how to love, honor, and care for their natural hair.
In October 2025, Jade Lambert, a teacher at Patrick Henry Prep, created an after-school natural hair club. Through a grant, she received funding to provide hair tools and products, and Lambert even created a curriculum that covers everything from what hair type you have to the history of hair discrimination.
"I just remember how I felt about my hair at that age, and I see it a lot in them." said Lambert. "So, it was natural once I started teaching, it was the one of the first things that came to my mind because it's something that we have in common."
Lambert said for students of color, learning to love your natural hair can be a complicated process.
"Kids used to make fun of me. They would be like, they can't see around me in class because my hair was so big," she said.
Growing up raised by her father in South Carolina, Lambert had to teach herself how to do her hair, often emulating the styles of her aunts and older cousins. Over time, her skills improved so much so that now people pay her for her services. Her fourth graders, of course, are picking up these cultural skills for free.
"I just feel proud that I can give that information to them." Lambert said.
Research from groups like the Intercultural Development Research Association and Arizona State University found that Black students are more likely to report being teased or discriminated against for their natural hair, compared to their non-Black classmates.
"Natural hair isn't some form of being unkempt or isn't you not caring about it. Maintaining your natural hair is probably the most care you can take to do hair at all," Lambert said. "It's quite literally an act of protest to wear your natural hair out."
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