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Puerto Rican Governor Pedro Pierluisi signed a new law this week that would ban discrimination against people with Afros, curls, braids, and other hairstyles in the racially diverse United States territory, the Associated Press reported.

The legislation is expected to provide protection in areas such as work, housing, education, and public services. It comes months after the island’s lawmakers held a public hearing where individuals shared their experiences facing discrimination based on their haircuts.

Puerto Rico’s laws and constitution already offer protections against discrimination, along with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

However, calls for explicit legal protections began after a 2016 US Court of Appeals ruled that an employer’s no-dreadlock policy in Alabama did not violate Title VII.

Civil society organizations welcomed the new law as “a victory for generations to come.”

Puerto Rico is home to a racially diverse population of 3.2 million, with more than 1.6 million identifying as being of two or more races, and nearly 230,000 identifying solely as Black.

Meanwhile, the law also acknowledged ongoing derogatory treatment, the deprivation of opportunities, and exclusion faced by Black or Afro-descendant individuals in Puerto Rico.