The Effects Of Skin Tone On The Black Community

This is due to ideas perpetuated by white slave owners who preferred lighter skinned slaves to work in the house as opposed to the darker skinned slaves working outside. The reasoning behind this was because slave owners felt that because slaves with light skinned looked like them, they were more appropriate to have around the house and near guests. When slavery ended, this idea that light-skinned blacks were better than dark-skinned blacks was passed down into the African-American community and continues even today. Marita’s purpose in writing this book was to present the idea of colorism to those who were ignorant to this issue. Some refuse to believe that the color complex is a major issue within the African-American, when in reality it is an obvious

African American were enslaved over 200 years ago. During this time, blacks were not even considered to be humans. Their lives was not important to anyone, and they were not considered beautiful, or to have any beauty whatsoever. Beauty was only favored in white supremacy. During this time in the 18th and 19th century the black female slave began to get raped by their masters, producing mixed-raced children, who had lighter skin. Even though they were half white, they still didn’t receive the same luxurious treatment as other whites, but because of their skin, they were put above their darker skinned relatives. The darker skinned were forced to stay out in the field and work all day, while the light skinned slaves were promoted to house slaves (ABC News). This created the separation for African Americas. It is believed this idea to separate the slaves by their complexion came from a man named Willie Lynch and his ideas in the Willie Lynch letter. In his letter he explain that he had a plan to control all of the slaves, and that if you installed his method the correct way it will control African Americans for 300 years. His method was to separate all African Americans simply by their difference and make theirs differences seem bigger than they actually are. According to Lynch, his method was to separate “old black male vs. the young black male, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves, and the light skin

Equally important, in Color Adjustment present the racism, the stereotypes and the negative portrayals of African American. Back in the time, the White doesn’t want black people integrate into their life and they seem the Black as second-class citizens. So the old ideas influenced time by time,” the images of black people in primetime television dominated the news is being torture and beaten and abused (Riggs)” that is how television history remember African American. As mentioned earlier, “Good time” is a successful show in 1970s, but the character JJ shows up with “minstrel and coon images (Riggs)” The audiences love it but for the Black people, this is not a humorous thing at all. They made this one traditional minstrel character with

In a time where respect and quality of life was determined by factors predetermined and out of the control of any one person skin color ruled all. Based solely on what a person looked like not how they carried themselves or their ideals but their complexion was the basis for societal standing as to whether you were or weren’t important. “The Shroud of Color” by Countee Cullen is about a man who is ashamed of his skin color and how dark it is. This also somewhat describes the feeling of darker-skinned blacks and their outlook on life in regards to their own skin complexion. Much of what I believe today’s dark-skinned individual deals with on a daily basis is what I would consider to be forms of colorism and not as often outright racism. This

Throughout generations it has been shown how different white and black people were treated completely different and had different experiences. As an example the difference between De Crevecoeur and Equiano, these two men had two types of lives and paths that would never cross. De Crevecoeur was a privileged white man who barely ever worried and Equiano was a slave that all he would ever do is worry and be afraid. De Crevecoeur and Equiano did have something in common, they were both trying to show life from their point of view. One person's point of view was how easy and optimistic his life was and the other wanted to show how fearful and anxious his life was.

Living in a white privileged society, you quickly learn that you do not stand on equal ground as other people who are lighter than you. I have my father's dark skin tone, brown unyielding eyes like my mother's, and thick black hair that sweeps past my waist. From the beginning, I did not fit the standards of beauty, much less society. Coming from a Spanish speaking home, I had to adapt and learn how to speak English. From a young age, my parents told me repeatedly I must work hard in order to be successful.

The Africans who were forcibly brought to America as slaves were taught that they were less than; demeaned because of their darker complexions, kinkier hair and rounded features. The origin of colorism in America started when slave owners gave preferential treatment to the fairer skinned slaves. During and over the period of slavery white masters would often rape their female slaves, often resulting in pregnancy. If impregnated, the product of that rape would result in a lighter-skinned child called a mulatto. Even though their masters didn’t claim them as family, since they contained white blood mulattos were allowed to work in the house and were awarded with better living conditions, better clothes, and more food: privileges that the darker skinned slaves lacked thereof. Added to that slave traders focused on gender and skin color to lure potential buyers into purchasing human merchandise, placing higher value on women of lighter skin tones deeming them as “Negroes fit for domestic service” within the homes of their masters. Due to this special or preferential treatment, the slaves, both light and dark learned head on that the lighter they were the more they were valued or accepted. The psychological impact of this form of oppression resulted in the passing down of that false sense of thinking from generation to generation resulting in the internalized racism and

I remember telling these boys “if we resided in the time period of slavery we would all be slaves.” In other words, we are all of the same general origin and are perceived as being on the same level. Being lighter does not imply that you are better or worse than another person. Informing them, I said “being of lighter complexion as a slave could mean a few things. For instance, your father likely being a white man raped your black slave mother and either way you were still condemned to slavery. When it came time for the slaves to be sold you were still sold just like any other slave. The only difference likely was you were prone to be sold before the slaves of darker pigmentation. Supremacy of complexion was carried through history. Many methods

Skin color in America is a precursor to how minorities are treated. This concept of what is considered acceptable depicted by what is considered the white norm. Colorism affects all minorities, but at different degrees. Women in minority communities are affected more harshly than men when it comes to this construct. Colonization and slavery have created disadvantage were the wellbeing of individual’s lives are beyond their control.

For some reason though, my friend would always choose the light-skinned girls. Now, this would not be a problem because everyone (including myself) has a preference, but what made this extremely unsettling is what they would say when dark-skinned girls would walked pass. “She’s too dark”, “She would not look right next to me”, or “She’s really ugly” were the comment that were said. This would always confuse the hell out of me because there was nothing wrong with these girls; in fact, some were cute. The only thing that differed from these girls and the ones they picked out was that their skin color. This was around ten years ago (when I was twelve), and nothing changed since then. For some reason dark-skinned black women are always treated s some kind of hideous creature undeserving of respect or love. Their demeanor and the atmosphere surrounding them is judge by their skin color. From the days of negritude, to the brown paper bag, to the “savage dark-skinned woman”, there seems to be this agenda to tear down the image of the dark-skinned black woman. There is this image of dark-skinned black women being this aggressive, attitude fuel women always looking to “start up something”, while light-skinned women are placed on this pedestal of beauty and as a trophy to many black men; more submissive and soft-spoken than dark-skinned women. A couple years ago, my mother told me of a time her and her sister went to a blockbuster to get movies. When my mother went up to the register to complete her transaction, the clerk (who was black) ignored her and instead rung up the thing my aunt had instead. Even though my mother was the register first, she was overlooked for my aunt because she was dark-skinned and my aunt was light-skinned. Actions like this is what hurt our people the most, not the assault we face at the hands of white

Questions that may remain today is “why dose colorism even matter? Colorism negatively affects the hearts mind, and souls of not only black, but people of color from various areas of the world. The rapid spread of colorism around the globe has resulted in many acts of self-hate among people of color, but mostly it a common act is the attempt to lose skin pigment to become “whiter” by using skin bleach. Colorism is in fact a serious issue that regards immediate attention for the sake of color worldwide. The Color of a person skin should not be defined by their character. Colorism is very profoundly used, and has broken many relationships of a race that is crumbling very quickly. Colorism has affected many faces

It is very rarely seen in the media that Blacks’ skin color is just as beautiful as any other skin color that we rely blindly to what the media portray believing that they are showing what is best for us. Many people are rarely exposed to Blacks’ struggles that we often forget that they are dealing with challenges that their skin color provides them with. Their skin color becomes attached to them since the day they are born and depending in what color that they are born as, they will either have a prosperous life or a life full of agony. Blacks, along with other races just want to be happy and accepted but their skin hue that enters through people’s eyes denies them that possibility.

The black community has come a long way, but there is still a long way to go, in order to improve the self-esteem of different skin tones. All shades of skin are beautiful, and it is important for everyone to appreciate who they are, and being able to appreciate oneself starts within a family. Once the darker skin tones begin to accept themselves, then society will follow behind. Once society follows with acceptance, those individuals are less likely to be criminals. When people go to a restaurant, and order meat, they get to choose how they want their meat to be cooked. It could be rare, medium rare, or well done. It is truly all about

For a long time, it didn’t really have a name; however, it found a way to divide and conquer black women with the brown paper bag test, segregated sororities, and preferential media exposure. It was a black girl problem in America, but especially a dark skinned black girl problem and the benefitting parties never spoke on it since such social caste systems elevated their privilege. In contemporary America, it has only become more apparent that it is issues such as colorism that further hinder Black America’s ability to solidify as a union. An analysis of origins and resultant issues of light skin privilege reveals one challenge facing this community: while black is beautiful, light skin is the right skin.

As many people know, the United States is a melting pot full of various ethnicities. Ethnicity, refers to an ethnic group that shares a cultural heritage. They are identified based on common language, ancestral, social, cultural, or national experience. Ethnic groups include, Mexicans, Italians, Chinese, Filipinos, Canadians, and many more. However, out of the many ethnic groups this research will focus on African Americans, which includes a range of similar ethnic groups. Although other ethnicities go through similar issues, the impact of ethnicity on a person’s ability to perform well in school is greater and more known among African Americans. Through this research it will focus on how ethnicity impacts African Americans ability to perform in school.