Prejudice: Dark Skin vs. Light Skin
Sabrina Waters
2206580
EN120-English Composition I
Assignment 06-06
May 21, 2013
Dark Skin vs. Light Skin:
Does Prejudice Exist?
Since the days of slaver, color has been used as a tool of separation and preferential treatment against African Americans. It was a known fact that the lighter skin slaves were favored over the darker skin slaves. The lighter skin slaves were given work in the main house where they helped raise the master’s children, ate better, and dressed better; where the darker slaves were given work out in the fields and poor living conditions. Those conditions clearly embedded a message in the black culture that still exists today. The division of our people was carried over into the early part of the 1900’s. It was carried on by Caucasians as well as Blacks. During the early part of the 1900’s, social groups and educated black persons could be part of a fraternity or sorority if they met the qualifications and would be accepted. A brown paper bag would be used as a guideline as to whether or not your skin was light enough to be accepted, and if you were light enough, you would be asked to join. Some colleges even required applicants to send a photo along with their application in an effort to weed out darker skinned students. Some people felt that the acceptance of light skinned blacks was a necessary step to getting all blacks accepted into the mainstream. Biracial people were placed socially below whites but ahead of blacks. As much as we would prefer not to talk about it, skin tone complications of the past still affect us in the present day. In 2006, a study was done at University of Georgia that showed employers prefer light skinned black men over dark skinned black men. A report reveals that dark skinned women were given stiffer prison sentences than lighter skinned black women. We can never know who analyzes the things we say or do, so it’s important to treat all blacks as beautiful. This discussion has
2206580
EN120-English Composition I
Assignment 06-06
May 21, 2013
Dark Skin vs. Light Skin:
Does Prejudice Exist?
Since the days of slaver, color has been used as a tool of separation and preferential treatment against African Americans. It was a known fact that the lighter skin slaves were favored over the darker skin slaves. The lighter skin slaves were given work in the main house where they helped raise the master’s children, ate better, and dressed better; where the darker slaves were given work out in the fields and poor living conditions. Those conditions clearly embedded a message in the black culture that still exists today. The division of our people was carried over into the early part of the 1900’s. It was carried on by Caucasians as well as Blacks. During the early part of the 1900’s, social groups and educated black persons could be part of a fraternity or sorority if they met the qualifications and would be accepted. A brown paper bag would be used as a guideline as to whether or not your skin was light enough to be accepted, and if you were light enough, you would be asked to join. Some colleges even required applicants to send a photo along with their application in an effort to weed out darker skinned students. Some people felt that the acceptance of light skinned blacks was a necessary step to getting all blacks accepted into the mainstream. Biracial people were placed socially below whites but ahead of blacks. As much as we would prefer not to talk about it, skin tone complications of the past still affect us in the present day. In 2006, a study was done at University of Georgia that showed employers prefer light skinned black men over dark skinned black men. A report reveals that dark skinned women were given stiffer prison sentences than lighter skinned black women. We can never know who analyzes the things we say or do, so it’s important to treat all blacks as beautiful. This discussion has