Colorism Within the Harlem Renaissance
Jatoria Nicholson
Dr. West
ENG 4903.01
6 December 2012
Colorism within the Harlem Renaissance Within any group of people there is always going to be some form of judgment and African American people of the early twentieth century Harlem are no different. Throughout this course students have been immersed into the culture of 1920s Harlem and through this immersion many significant issues have surfaced from the artist of the time period. A major issue that has been repetitive throughout all forms of art during this period is colorism. Colorism which can also be called color conscientiousness, intra-racism, being color-struck, or having a color complex is a long standing epidemic focusing on physical appearance with a large concentration on the color of one’s skin (Carpenter 1). It is an ideology that is largely used in African American art dating as far back as slave folk literature and still being a dominant force in present day African American literature, but was a defining form of expression during the Harlem Renaissance. Although colorism is not gender specific I have found that it plays a more dominantly negative role in the lives of women and through literary and secondary source supports this paper will further express what colorism is and the affect it has on the women who face it at such a high racially tense time.
I believe it is first important to have an understanding of the period of time known as the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time period that begin in the 1920s [when] black intellectuals of Harlem had a ‘reawakening’ of culture that had been dormant for generations (Huggins 3). It was a time where men and women of African descent aimed to form a high culture of their own in order to bridge the gap between differing races and create a world of literature free of prejudice (Huggins 5). This was also a time for African Americans to form an identity for their race that would yield power and put rest to the beliefs that African
Dr. West
ENG 4903.01
6 December 2012
Colorism within the Harlem Renaissance Within any group of people there is always going to be some form of judgment and African American people of the early twentieth century Harlem are no different. Throughout this course students have been immersed into the culture of 1920s Harlem and through this immersion many significant issues have surfaced from the artist of the time period. A major issue that has been repetitive throughout all forms of art during this period is colorism. Colorism which can also be called color conscientiousness, intra-racism, being color-struck, or having a color complex is a long standing epidemic focusing on physical appearance with a large concentration on the color of one’s skin (Carpenter 1). It is an ideology that is largely used in African American art dating as far back as slave folk literature and still being a dominant force in present day African American literature, but was a defining form of expression during the Harlem Renaissance. Although colorism is not gender specific I have found that it plays a more dominantly negative role in the lives of women and through literary and secondary source supports this paper will further express what colorism is and the affect it has on the women who face it at such a high racially tense time.
I believe it is first important to have an understanding of the period of time known as the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time period that begin in the 1920s [when] black intellectuals of Harlem had a ‘reawakening’ of culture that had been dormant for generations (Huggins 3). It was a time where men and women of African descent aimed to form a high culture of their own in order to bridge the gap between differing races and create a world of literature free of prejudice (Huggins 5). This was also a time for African Americans to form an identity for their race that would yield power and put rest to the beliefs that African