Tignon Laws
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In the late 18th century, under the Spanish rule. There was an increase of free African descendants' population in New Orleans, LA. This was caused by enslaved African descendants being able to earn money and had the legal ability buy their own freedom. Society was becoming increasingly mixed, so it was difficult to tell just by looking at someone if they were white.
In response Charles III of Spain demanded that Louisiana Governor Esteban Rodriguez Miró establish a "public order and proper standards of morality"
In 1786 Governor Esteban developed the "Tignon laws". According to the tignon decree, all women of African descendants had to wear a scarf or handkerchief over their hair as a visible sign of belonging to the slave class.
Tignon laws were intended to symbolically return free African descendant women to subordinate and inferior status associated with slavery. The women covered their hair but did so with intricate colorful fabrics with jewels and feathers. Tignons became high fashion. Once the United States took ownership of Louisiana through the 1803 Louisiana Purchase the Tignon laws were no longer enforced. The women never stopped wearing their Tignons as a symbol of resistance to white colonialism.