Parents and School Tangle Over Waldorf Tot's Locks

"In the U.S., more often it's an affirmation of an ancestry and identity to allow your hair to do what it does in its natural state," Rooks said. "That makes it difficult to think of locks as a fad."

Rooks said personal appearance cases such as the Browns' are most common in areas with changing demographics, where longtime white residents might not be used to seeing people with different ways of expressing themselves. Charles has the fastest-growing black population of any area in the country except the Atlanta suburbs, census data show. Although the county has a majority-black public school system, white students are a strong majority at most of its private schools -- including Southern Maryland Christian Academy. Gaines declined to provide demographic information about the student body.

"I know it's culture shock for some people down here," said Brown, whose family moved to Waldorf from Alexandria three years ago. "There are still people who look at us like we're not from here."

Since the dispute between the Browns and the school became public, the family has received hate mail from other residents. One letter said African Americans are "ruining Waldorf" and instructed them to "go back" to the District and Prince George's County.

Brown said she has been disheartened by some of the reaction but said she plans to continue fighting what she thinks is a discriminatory policy. Legal experts said, however, that she probably will face an uphill battle in court. Because hairstyle is commonly considered a choice, unlike skin color, past plaintiffs have had difficulty convincing federal judges that they were the victims of discrimination. And Maryland anti-discrimination laws do not apply to private schools.

Last winter, Baltimore police agreed to change a policy that prohibited cornrows and dreadlocks. A handful of court decisions dealing with hairstyles have led to mixed results: A federal judge ruled in 1991 that American Airlines could fire an employee who did not comply with a ban on cornrows, but decisions from lower courts have ruled in favor of plaintiffs.

David Rocah, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, said, "I don't disagree with [Brown] that specific prohibitions on locked hair or twisted hair have a racially disparate impact, but I can't think of a specific law that would cover her."

In the newspaper advertisement, Southern Maryland Christian Academy administrators said that they hope the case does not go to trial but that they are confident they would win if it did. Meanwhile, Jayce is attending another Christian preschool in White Plains that has no restrictions on hairstyle.

"He has no idea what happened, but he keeps asking when he's going to see his old teacher again," Brown said. "I don't really know what to tell him."