It was a big night for Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver, creators of the film “Hair Love.”

The six-minute animated short, about a young African-American girl and her father’s journey to creating the perfect hair style, won an Oscar and at the same time brought issues of black hair discrimination to the national stage.

“There’s a very important issue that’s out there right now: It’s the Crown Act,” said "Hair Love" director Matthew A. Cherry.

Panelists at the 49th annual Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus weekend said the film goes hand in hand with everyday experiences with African-American hair.

Lurie Favors, the interim director for the Center for Law and Justice at Medgar Evers College, said the team behind the film “dedicated it to a number of struggles that black women and black people have been engaged with, when it pertains to protecting our right to wear our hair.”

Brooklyn Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright was one of the officials who worked to pass the “Crown Act” legislation in New York. The bill ensures that institutions cannot discriminate against African-American people on the basis of their hair styling choice.

“We are facing a lot of discrimination related to our natural hair,” she said. “We all heard the stories about people being sent home from school not being able to participate in activities.”

New Jersey high school student Andrew Johnson was required to cut his locks by a referee in order to continue his wrestling match, and Texas student Deandre Arnold was banned from walking in his graduation because his hair didn’t adhere to the school’s dress code. It’s a practice that L. Joy Williams, Brooklyn NAACP president and national strategist, said needs to change.

They say the film also opens up the conversation on how to care for black hair.

“Natural hair like that, [that] does what it’s intentionally and genetically designed to do, is not typically within that beauty standard,” Favors said.

Whether it’s straight, coiled, kinky, locked, or twisted, the desire to wear natural styles has boosted demand for natural hair products.

Erin Hundley, a hair educator, stylist, and owner of Red Door Beauty Studio in Schenectady, said "Hair Love" shows just how deeply rooted protecting natural hairstyles can be.

“There was also a gaping hole in the market that really didn’t have great products for this insurgence of natural hair,” she said. " 'Hair Love’ was a great way for people that are not just black to understand that our hair is important to us, and it’s connected emotionally."