Girl denied class picture over red hair glows fierce in photo shoot. 'I got to be myself'

Sonja Haller | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption 8-year-old girl turned away from school pictures because of her hair Marian Scott, 8, was turned away from school photos due to her bright red hair extensions, so a photographer gave her a photo shoot instead.

The professional photographer knew what he could do. The father in him knew he had to try.

"When you feel that way, that your daughter was singled out, or you feel that her confidence was struck so bad to where she's coming home in tears and, you know, as a father, it gets to you," Jermaine Horton told USA TODAY. "So I was just glad that I was able to reach out, and we were able to make it work."

The father of a 7-year-old drove more than four hours from Chicago to Michigan to photograph Marian Scott, 8, who school officials told wouldn't get a third-grade photo this year because of her red hair extensions.

Horton of Jermaine Horton Photography brought his daughter to help a nervous Marian relax. They did Fortnite dances and put on songs by favorite singer Ariana Grande, but when it came time to give her direction, she didn't need it, he said.

"She was so fierce in those photos," he said. "I mean and she was on it. She was so on it. I was like, 'You go girl.' "

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'Red hair, don't care'

The photos show Marian in a free wardrobe provided by Horton's friend Pamela Blackman, CEO of Joy Management Inc., and her daughter Mieka Joi, CEO of clothing brand Rich Girl Candy.

Marian also showed off her red hair extensions in the November photo shoot.

Her hair made headlines in October when school officials at Paragon Charter Academy in Jackson County denied Marian a school photo because of her hair.

Principal Ben Kriesch told local news station WILX-TV that the hair extensions violate school policy. The school handbook calls for "hair color of natural tones."

USA TODAY requests for comments were not immediately returned.

Marian told USA TODAY that being turned away made her feel singled out.

"I felt sad, and everybody else got to get their pictures except for me," she said. "And some of my friends were laughing and stuff like that."

But the new photos made her feel noticed and "happy," Marian said. "I got to be myself."

Marian has since switched to a public school and her parents, LaToya Howard and Doug Scott, are overjoyed with the photos.

Her father said from an "ugly" incident came beautiful people.

"But the ugly help feed us to a lot of good folks and a lot of great people that have just shown us that the world isn't ugly and it's not, you know, it's just not as bad as people think it is," Scott told USA TODAY. "There are people out there that care, and it is amazing."

"Red hair don’t care," her mother said.

"Yeah, red hair don’t care," Scott added.

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