Natural-Hair Moments in Politics

Keli Goff is The Root’s special correspondent. Follow her on Twitter.

Dante de Blasio with his mother, Chirlayne McCray, and father, NYC mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio (Bill de Blasio campaign)

New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio's son, Dante, and his Afro have generated a great deal of attention and media coverage. Here is a look at some other natural-hair superstars in politics.

Annette Robinson

Annette Robinson (Monika Graff/Getty Images)

Robinson is a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly.

Karen Bass

Karen Bass (Dr. Billy Ingram/Getty Images)

A former majority floor leader for the California State Assembly, Democratic Rep. Bass was elected to Congress in 2010.

Angela Davis

Angela Davis
Michael Tran/Getty Images

Davis is likely as well known for her political activism as for her sizable Afro, which emerged as an iconic cultural and fashion image of the 1960s.

Ruth Hassell-Thompson

Ruth Hassell-Thompson (NYSenate.gov)

Hassell-Thompson is a Democratic member of the New York State Senate.

Donna Edwards

Donna Edwards (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Group/Getty Images)

In 2006 Rep. Edwards (D-Md.) defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Rep. Al Wynn to become the first black woman to represent Maryland in Congress.

Shirley Kitchen

Shirley Kitchen (SenatorKitchen.com)

Kitchen is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Donna Christian-Christensen

Donna Christian-Christensen (Chris Maddaloni/Getty Images)

A physician and a native of New Jersey, Democrat Christian-Christensen was elected to the House of Representatives as the delegate for the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1996. (As a delegate, Christian-Christensen has representative but nonvoting power.)

LeAnna M. Washington

LeAnna M. Washington (Business Wire via Getty Images)

Washington is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Daun Sessoms Hester

Daun Sessoms Hester (DawnHester.com)

Democrat Hester is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.

Lena C. Taylor

Lena Taylor (Facebook)

Wisconsin state Sen. Taylor, a Democrat, has worn her hair natural during her political career.

Shirley Franklin

Shirley Franklin (Joe Amon/Getty Images)

Franklin became the first female mayor of Atlanta in 2002, as well as the first black female mayor of a major Southern city.

Nikiya Harris

Nikiya Harris (Facebook)

Wisconsin Democratic state Sen. Harris has been spotted on the campaign trail rocking a natural style.

Eleanor Holmes Norton

Eleanor Holmes Norton (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)

During her tenure as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the late 1970s, Norton sported a sizable Afro. Today the delegate elected to represent the District of Columbia in Congress in 1990 wears her hair in a more close-cropped natural style.