A Dark Skinned, African America Woman As Well

As stated above, African-American women have been subjected to measure themselves against white women. White women are viewed, in this society and since the beginning of the concept of race, as the epitome of beauty. Logically, African-American women attempt to emulate the white standard. This creates an inferiority complex, because the epitome of beauty is white woman, than any other race can be deemed as inferior; this deteriorates African-American women’s self-worth. To remedy worthlessness, many body modification techniques have been made to fully mimic white women in terms of beauty. This emulation still is being done and it is continuous, because of the psychological ‘white fantasization .

The book goes through Jeannette’s life exposing the mistakes she, her siblings, and her parents made to become the family they were. As her life grows older, Jeannette finds herself in more responsible positions in the world, with editing school newspapers, to writing columns in a small New York newspaper outlet. Her troubles have raised the issue of stereotyping, a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Due to her status in her childhood, it was not hard for her to fit in with the other members of the poor community. “Dinitia explained that I was with her and that I was good people. The women looked at one another and shrugged.” (Walls 191) The quote talks about how members of the black community in Welch accepted Jeannette to go swimming with them in the morning hours before the white people went in the afternoon. The people who knew Dinita, Jeannette’s friend, knew that Dinita was trustworthy, and let Jeannette pass. This relates to the thesis because it shows how she was accepted amongst the people who were

African Americans? To what degree do you think the author’s view is shared by others in the

If a black woman had dark skin she would resemble a man, therefore making her ugly in society’s standards. This pressures black women to constantly be "compatible with the white female standard of beauty" (Ashe 580) in order to be socially accepted in society. Intuitively black women understood that in order to be considered desirable, the less black they had to look. This unfortunate perception of beauty stems from a long pattern of "sociohistorical racial injustices" (Bealer 312) towards darker skinned African Americans. Maria Racine states in her review that since slavery black people who approximated closer to whites were sexually sought after by black slave men and white plantation owners and were considered to live a somewhat "easy coexistence" because of their appearance (Racine 283). Since it’s start, colorism laid the pathway of racial prejudice towards dark skinned individuals. The result of treating dark African Americans as subhuman beings led to the altering of the black psyche by creating a "pervasive hierarchy" of beauty that black woman constantly combated or were forced to accept. (Bealer 312).

She uses idealistic examples and real world situations to get the best realistic interpretation on the matter of the harlem renaissance. This novel also is a great way to learn and understand the importance of women's roles and rights during the harlem renaissance era for the black/african american women. All in all, Hurston’s depiction of the harlem renaissance reflects and departs the major topics and does so

“Language is a product of society. As society changes, so does language.” Because of this, over time, English speakers all over the world have reinvented language and in some cases come up with their own very different ways of speaking. African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also referred to as Ebonics, is one of these variations of American English, most commonly spoken today by urban working-class and middle-class African Americans. Not only does Ebonics make up an immense part of African American social life and communication, but also it is heavily used in the music industry. Its use in the music industry today, particularly in the hip-hop industry, has definitely had an effect on society’s use of language, especially today’s youth. Although widely used by African Americans, many other ethnicities also use Ebonics as a way of communication. The use of Ebonics has steered many away from learning and/or using Standard English and unfortunately, this has lead to communication barriers between speakers of Ebonics and speakers of Standard English especially within academic environments. Due to this, it is extremely important for school systems to incorporate Ebonics as well as elements from the hip-hop culture into their curriculum to ensure the success of their students.

According to McIntosh’s suggestion, “we should acknowledge enormous unseen dimensions, talk about the obliviousness advantages, and raise our daily awareness on the perquisites of being light-skinned.” McIntosh’s approaches are characterized as reasonable to resolve the issue. By listing down every advantage she takes for granted, she is raising awareness in the society. By

I consider myself to be a white Irish-Italian American woman. My mother was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland and my paternal grandparents are from Sicily, Italy. I imagine being first generation Irish and second generation Italian makes me identify more with my ethnicity.

Throughout the novel it is apparent that everyday instances of racism occur, causing people of color to feel outcasted. There are two very obvious occasions where this happened. In the first instance two African American woman are in a workspace of primarily all white co-workers. When a woman they worked with got these two names mixed up, it was stated that she had a “fifty-fifty chance of getting it right” insinuating that these two women are the only black ones working here. Later, the woman who had the mix-up with the names wrote an apology note; however, in the note she stated it was “our mistake” and seemingly put part of the blame on the to women. This is a primary example of how African Americans can be thrown against a white background making them seem different than everyone else.

As the research continues it becomes ever more important to discuss how exactly the differing pigmentation of one race of people actually occurs, because I feel that it has an effect on the way colorism is handled throughout the African American community. There are two ways in which a person of African descent can be of a lighter complexion; the first being amalgamation, which is the coming together of both the black and white races and reproducing to make a mulatto or mixed race child and the second is the use of cosmetic creams in attempt to bleach one’s skin until they too appear mulatto (Dorman 48). This is relevant because, it shows the extremes that people are willing to go to reach the highest plateau of social acceptance. Many of these creams were painful acidic chemicals slowly burning away the pigmentation as people slept, while others were considered mild abrasive materials used to “gently” scrape away dark pigments (Dorman

Who are we, where did we come from, what has been our experience since we landed on United States soil? The migration of Africans has been very significant in the making of African Americans history and culture. Today's 35 million African Americans are heirs to all the migrations that have formed and transformed African America, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere (The New York Public Library, n.d.). African American history starts in the 1500s with the first Africans coming from Mexico and the Caribbean to the Spanish territories of Florida, Texas, and other parts of the South (The New York Public Library, n.d.). Although

From the beginning chapters of Mixed, it appears that Angela has not only encountered many obstacles from being a mixed child, but that she has also learned to accept and conquer her differences within society. One of the many struggles she encountered as a child was her appearance. She was too dark to be considered white, and to light to be black. Instead of making this struggle define her life, so far, it seems that she tends to accept the difference and uses it for her benefit and amusement.

To the African American male, a lighter skinned female may be able to bear better-looking children with white features. They are also seen as easier to get along with. The continued success of the light skinned African Americans has created a prejudice against lighter skinned individuals in the culture. Dark skinned males and females are raged because of the fact that they get hired for good jobs. Dark skinned females are mad at lighter skinned females because they are not approached as much as they are. This is a real issue because it is causing bitterness towards one another I the African American culture. The simple fact is that no matter whether one is light skinned or dark skinned, they are still African American. However, because of the features in which a light skinned individual processes, helps them get more ahead, therefore, light skinned African Americans have easier lives than dark skinned African Americans.

Even though Sweetness knew she was a black woman, she did not want to face the harsh reality of being one. “But how else can we hold on to a little dignity? How else can we avoid being spit on in a drugstore, elbowed at the bus stop, having to walk in the gutter to let whites have the whole sidewalk, being charged a nickel at the grocer’s for a paper bag that’s free to white shoppers? Let alone all the name-calling. I heard about all of that and much, much more.” (Morrison) After hearing about all of the stories that other blacks went through, Sweetness knew her only way out was to use her light skin to her advantage. It was not a difficult decision for her to make because she knew all of the advantages that came with it. By living life as a white woman, Sweetness was able to have a job at a hospital and live a life that was much easier than her mother’s. But after having a dark skin baby, she knew life as she

My favorite point Ms. McIntosh makes is “ I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.” Holy cow, this is so incredibly true, and I never realized it until I read this article. Most drugstores don’t carry make up dark enough for African Americans. I have seen white women use, powder foundation made for black women to highlight their face to make it look tan. It is so ignorant by the make up companies, to not cater to women of all shades. You can walk down the make up aisle and find ten different shades for white women and two maybe three dark ones. Black skin comes in just as many tints as white skin does. Same with bandages, black people get scrapes and cuts too, why don’t you make a skin colored bandage for them? For crying out loud, we make neon pink, orange, green, and purple but we cant have a brown color? Most grown adults don’t want to wear neon or character bandages, but putting an ivory Band-Aid on their finger looks quite peculiar. Isn’t the purpose of a Band-Aid to make the skin look “normal” to divert attention from the wound? I never realized it but when I babysat for my cousins, the mother and son were African American, the daughter was biracial, and my cousin was white. They always had character Band-Aids, I never thought twice about it because their kids were young, however it makes complete sense to me. They don’t have bandages to match then skin tone. Even the small things like this, certainly could make