Colorism

Colorism is a broad term that encompasses a complex set of attitudes, stereotypes, and practices within African American society predicated on skin color. Historically, colorism has meant that, even within the black community, some people prefer fairer skin to dark. But it can also operate in the reverse and refer to the preference of dark skin over light.

Along with the belief that light skin is more attractive and therefore more desirable, colorism carries with it assumptions that link behavioral characteristics and personality traits to pigmentation. Intelligence, trustworthiness, and femininity are among the attributes that are sometimes thought to accompany light skin. Meanwhile, such attributes as stamina, sexual prowess, and masculinity are believed inherent to dark skin.

These beliefs associated with colorism began during the era of slavery, when light-skinned, racially mixed slaves were often treated better than their darkerskinned counterparts. Thus, colorism became part of an unconscious set of assumptions held by many African Americans and is still at work to some extent today.

In his book, Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market (2001), historian Walter Johnson chronicles the differences in perceptions held by white slave buyers in the antebellum period about the usefulness of slaves based on their skin color. Dark-skinned slaves, particularly men, were thought to be exceptionally well suited for hard labor. However, they were also considered inherently unruly, prone to theft, incapable of controlling sexual urges, and likely to resort to violence if given the opportunity. Light-skinned blacks, by contrast, were considered more loyal, better able to grasp tasks requiring intelligence, and more presentable.

The resulting division of labor placed light-skinned slaves in or near the owner's house as servants, chauffeurs, and the like, while darker-skinned men and women performed the hard work of planting and harvesting the fields. Resentment over such differences in labor tasks led to interracial conflict and mistrust. Dark-skinned people came to view lightskinned blacks as pawns of the white establishment, while light-skinned blacks viewed those darker than themselves as uncouth inferiors to whom they were unfortunately bound by race and condition of servitude. While by no means true of every enslaved person, such stereotypes were commonly held.

In the postslavery era, the black upper class in the American South was composed largely of light skinned blacks who were the children of wealthy slave owners. Some had inherited money or property from their fathers; others had been well educated. Not accepted by whites, these light-skinned blacks formed their own elite societies in cities such as New Orleans and Atlanta. Ironically, many members of these elites tended to distance themselves from working-class blacks, holding prejudices against their own people that were no less damaging than those held by many whites.

In Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class (2000), author, attorney, and commentator on race Lawrence Otis Graham discusses the extent to which black bourgeois social groups engaged in color-conscious membership activities. There was the “Paper Bag Test,” where applicants had to be lighter in complexion than a standard brown paper bag, and the “Ruler Test,” in which the straightness of hair was determined in comparison to a ruler.

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