The Army and black women's hair

The hairstyle of former Sgt. Jasmine Jacobs (below left), discharged this month from the Georgia National Guard, runs afoul of new Army regulations governing soldiers' grooming, and Jacobs is leading an Internet-based protest against the rules.

The Army has run headlong into a long and complicated relationship: that of black women with their hair. Questions of what’s “good hair” or “bad hair” have vexed black females for decades and continue to do so today.

“What do I do with my hair?" Jacobs said. "What can females do with their hair? At the end of the day, it hit so personally, because it was offensive and insulting. To be quiet would have been the greatest insult.”