Dark Skin vs. Light Skin in Black America Within the United States, racial profiling is not uncommon. While the situation may have improved over the past few decades, people of color are still viewed with the eye of an outsider, with the whites remain the dominant race. However, this sort of profiling does not just exist across races. Within the black community, a form of segregation occurs, with the lighter skinned blacks being considered genetically closer to the whites. On the other hand, dark skin is linked with authenticity (Hall 70). This means that lighter skinned blacks are likelier to enjoy the privileges enjoyed by whites, compared to their darker skinned counterparts. In the same way, compared to their light skinned counterparts,
…show more content…
Some attitudes were introduced, including the idea that light skinned blacks were more beautiful compared to dark skinned blacks. This is explained by Margaret Hunter (83), who observes that in the African American community, attractiveness is typically noticed in people who are light-skinned. Hunter (83) explains that the cumulative effect of associating beauty with light complexioned people communicates that dark skin is undesirable. Evidence to this is observable from studies conducted in the Twentieth Century, particularly one by Drake and Cayton, whereby across the black community in Chicago, dark-skinned persons were generally rejected, while medium brown was a popular color in everyday assessments (Glenn 87). This was carried through in beauty pageants, where lighter skinned blacks would be voted as the most beautiful among contestants with darker shades of black. In fact, as Glenn (88) reports, it was only during the 1961 contest that a dark skinned contestant named Ruth Beckford triumphed to challenge the long-established perceptions linking light complexion with beauty. However, after the 1961 contest, the pageants returned to the long tradition of crowning light-skinned models as ideally …show more content…
In this case, darker skinned African Americans are considered to be ideally black and thus worthy to be associated with the black race across the community. As a result, light skinned blacks are more likely to be bullied for lacking dark skin. These persons are frequently bullied based on the fact that they are not dark enough to fit into the black categorization. Young African Americans of mixed race have reported experiencing hatred from their darker counterparts, due to their skin color, their curly hair, and their mannerisms which are commonly borrowed from a set of parents from different racial backgrounds (Herring & Hayward 22). When these persons come of age, they continue to be stigmatized by a society that barely accepts their lack of authenticity. Elizabeth Atkins, for instance, reports that she is commonly associated with a wealthy family, being an “oversexed video vixen with no ambition besides being someone’s object”, and as acting and talking white (Herring & Hayward). Similar struggles are experienced by male light-skinned African Americans, who are commonly judged by their skin color, rather than their intellectual skills and capacity to be productive
Some attitudes were introduced, including the idea that light skinned blacks were more beautiful compared to dark skinned blacks. This is explained by Margaret Hunter (83), who observes that in the African American community, attractiveness is typically noticed in people who are light-skinned. Hunter (83) explains that the cumulative effect of associating beauty with light complexioned people communicates that dark skin is undesirable. Evidence to this is observable from studies conducted in the Twentieth Century, particularly one by Drake and Cayton, whereby across the black community in Chicago, dark-skinned persons were generally rejected, while medium brown was a popular color in everyday assessments (Glenn 87). This was carried through in beauty pageants, where lighter skinned blacks would be voted as the most beautiful among contestants with darker shades of black. In fact, as Glenn (88) reports, it was only during the 1961 contest that a dark skinned contestant named Ruth Beckford triumphed to challenge the long-established perceptions linking light complexion with beauty. However, after the 1961 contest, the pageants returned to the long tradition of crowning light-skinned models as ideally …show more content…
In this case, darker skinned African Americans are considered to be ideally black and thus worthy to be associated with the black race across the community. As a result, light skinned blacks are more likely to be bullied for lacking dark skin. These persons are frequently bullied based on the fact that they are not dark enough to fit into the black categorization. Young African Americans of mixed race have reported experiencing hatred from their darker counterparts, due to their skin color, their curly hair, and their mannerisms which are commonly borrowed from a set of parents from different racial backgrounds (Herring & Hayward 22). When these persons come of age, they continue to be stigmatized by a society that barely accepts their lack of authenticity. Elizabeth Atkins, for instance, reports that she is commonly associated with a wealthy family, being an “oversexed video vixen with no ambition besides being someone’s object”, and as acting and talking white (Herring & Hayward). Similar struggles are experienced by male light-skinned African Americans, who are commonly judged by their skin color, rather than their intellectual skills and capacity to be productive