Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Wednesday a bill making California the first state to ban workplace and school discrimination against black people for wearing hairstyles such as braids, twists and locks.

The law by Democratic Senator Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, a black woman who wears her hair in locks, makes California the first state to explicitly say that those hairstyles are associated with race and therefore protected against discrimination in the workplace and in schools.

Though California is the first state with such a law, New York City earlier this year issued legal guidance banning discrimination against someone based on their hairstyle. The beauty company Dove is part of a coalition pushing for more hairstyle protections, and Mitchell said she hopes other states follow California. 

Mitchell's bill adds language to the state's discrimination laws to say that "race" also includes "traits historically associated with race," including styles and texture of hair. It further defines protected hairstyles as including braids, twists and locks. 

Shereen Africa said she used to work at a television station in Mississippi where a black anchor quit after facing resistance to wearing her hair in locks. Africa said she did not wear her hair in braids at the job, even though she wasn't on air, because the environment wasn't supportive of it. 

"If I'm in a professional setting, I won't wear my hair in certain ways," she said. 

An anchor at a different Mississippi TV station made national news when she said she was fired after she stopped straightening her hair. 

"You want to go to work and feel free," Drayton said. "You don't want to have to feel like you have to put on a wig or you have to have your hair straight to please someone else.”