Lakeside Senior Named 'Doodle for Google' Finalist, Centers Black Hair as Superpower

When Kameirah Johnson heard the theme for this year's Doodle for Google competition — "My superpower is…" — she immediately thought of hair.

"I always thought of Black hair as something that is magical because it defies gravity, and it's just so versatile," said Johnson. 

So, Johnson, 18, submitted an illustration into an annual contest where Google considers original artwork from K–12 students residing in the U.S., Puerto Rico, or other U.S. territories for display on the Google homepage. Now she is one of five finalists in the competition. 

For making it to the final round, Johnson will receive a $10,000 college scholarship, a Chromebook, and a hometown celebration. The final prize for winning the competition is a $45,000 scholarship and a $50,000 technology package for her school. Johnson, who is committed to New York University for studio art and economics, would put the scholarship money towards her tuition. 

But even though the five finalists were selected by a national Teacher of the Year and NBA All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo, anyone can vote for their favorite doodle. Voting ends on April 29, and the winner will be announced on May 12.

Johnson said she chose her image for a reason. "I … wanted to paint this as a way to empower young Black girls. I'm in a lot of Black communities, but I live on the East Side, which is a very white part of Seattle, and I grew up going to predominantly white schools." 

Johnson can recall her and her friends experiencing racism at their schools. "I got a lot of comments about my hair, and I know my Black friends have gotten a lot of comments about their hair in these white spaces," she said.

Despite the comments aimed at withering away her self-esteem and destroying confidence in her Blackness, Johnson is proud of who she is. "I love being Black. I love my hair. I love everything about Black culture. My mom raised me in that way, very intentionally. But for a lot of Black people that I know, the comments — and for some people who have been bullied — it gets to them eventually," said Johnson.

Referencing the CROWN Act, an acronym for "Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair," Johnson talked about how only certain states have passed legislation protecting natural hair. "So with all that in mind, I wanted to make something to push back and to empower young Black girls, as a form of resistance."

Johnson, who is Christian, had already done this before when she realized there was a lack of representation of people who look like her in religious art, and she began to paint Black faces alongside divine motifs.

"Something that I was focusing on, maybe all of last year, was just reshaping the art canon into centering Black figures as divine and Black figures as holy," Johnson said. In her heart and on her skin, Johnson holds her Blackness close, and it reflects in most of what she paints.

If Johnson wasn't an artist, she would be completely focused on pushing toward social change. "So I feel like the same passion would be there — I'd just have to find a different way to express it, [though] I don't even think I can imagine how."