All Rev'd Up: 'Hair Is A Political Statement'

A side-by-side of two screenshots taken of U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley from her Jan. 16 video posted to The Root's op-ed video series, "A Word." In the video and accompanying article, Pressley discusses having alopecia.

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

January 27, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III joined Boston Public Radio on Monday to speak about Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley going public about her alopecia.

"I thought it was classic Ayanna," Price said. "The thing she brings to front focus is that hair is a political statement."

Monroe spoke about the abuse and appropriation of black hair throughout history.

"Black hair has been demonized and criminalized when black people wear it," she said. "What Ayanna does here by wearing a bald head, flaunting that, shows a way in which we wear our hair and make space for that."

Monroe is a syndicated religion columnist and the Boston voice for Detour’s African American Heritage Trail and a visiting researcher in the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University School of Theology.

Price is professor of worship, church & culture and founding executive director of the Institute for the Study of the Black Christian Experience at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Together they host the All Rev’d Up podcast, produced by WGBH.