Colorism: Black People and Skin Color

Growing up as a y tabuh being in an interracial family, I always experienced prejudice whether it was in spot my abode or out on the street. My father was an African-American, his family was pass judgment but entirely could see that they praised the fact that my skin was 5-6 shades lighter than that of my other cousins.This of vogue caused unresolved bangs, issues that couldnt and wouldnt be talked about among us as children, but later on became deep conversation filled with bust and understanding because we were finally able to get from under the stigma that our parents were engulfed in because their parents had subjected them to the same treatment. While on the other hand, my starts side of the family is Irish, German, and Indian. They despised the fact that my father was an African-American man.I would hear my mothers mother talk badly of my father. She even went as faraway as non to allow my father in her home. She was the hardest on me out of all the grand children when it came to disciplining us, because my fathers skin tone was that of a black man. They also tended to favor my mothers eldest young woman because her father wasnt an African-American. As a child growing up I experienced both positive and negative feedback for my skin colorise. and I must say that it was about 85% positive when not in the presence of my mothers mother.Note I befoolt say granny knot because she was hardly ever a grandmother toward s me, just because my skin color was that of a black girl, composition my cousins were mostly fair skinned. Colorism in the United States is a stigma that wont get lifted because of what slavery has embedded in the minds of African-Americans. check to wikipedia. com, Colorism is defined as a Black-on-Black racism, found on skin-tone. The discrimination is based on the idea that a persons worth is directly related to the color of his or her skin, valuing lighter tones over darker tones.Its commonly known that Colorism plagued the Bl ack confederacy after slavery and through the early to mid-twentieth century. In the early 1900s, umteen black organizations, including colleges, practiced the browned paper bag bear witness when accepting new members. If a persons skin was not lighter than a brown paper bag, they would be denied admittance. Though the brown paper bag test is out of date and frowned upon as a shameful moment in African-American history, the ideals behind the practice still lingers in the African-American community.contemporary Colorism rears its ugly head in the day to day lives of African-Americans every day. This issue has affected every hue or shade of blackness at bottom the African-American community. In The Color confused by Midge Wilson, Wilson addresses the issue by tracing the origin of Colorism, To t backwash the origins of the color complex, we must return to the course of instruction 1607 when three ships sailed in Chesapeake Bay, stopping at Jamestown, Virginia, to establish the first incline colony in the New World..It was a new estate and a new era filled with possibilities. What might have been inconceivable in Europe and Africa was an everyday occurrence in the wilderness. Miscegenation, or race mixing, became widespread as Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans mixed their seed and substance to prepare a kaleidoscope of skin tones and features. But these primary race groupings differed sharply in their civil liberties and political freedoms. Subtle variations in appearance took on considerable consequence in meaning, especially among Negros, (Wilson, pg. 9).With the emphasis of color being fate in the forefront of the black community, blacks have let this issue set the stage for ignorance for over four hundred years. The effects of these actions have trickled down feather into some of the most prominent black organizations that define our community and our blackness, much(prenominal) as the NAACP, Jack and Jill, alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, K appa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and etc. It is no secret that these types of organizations were formd in order to create a faux safe haven for the wealth of the light-skinned mulattos.In the early years these organizations were called Blue Vein societies, because in order to recite belong, the test of how light you were was could you see your blue veins through your skin? And if they could, you were in. kit and boodle Cited Colorism. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 1 Nov 2009, 2252 UTC. 2 Nov 2009 . Wilson, Midge, Russell Kathy. The Color Complex The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans. New York Harcourt Publishers, 1992.