The Color Complex: How Skin Color Affects African Americans

Popular phrases such as, “the Blacker the Berry, the Sweeter the juice,” and “If it’s White, it’s gotta be right,” have held opposing views in the African American community on the concept of skin complexion. This idea of a “Color Complex” has psychologically altered the way many African Americans perceive beauty, success, and their personal identity. Although some would disagree, there seems to be a strong connection between skin color and social status in the African American community. It may appear that African Americans are dispelling this theory of “light-skinned and dark skinned” to become a more cohesive group, but the politics of skin color and features still remain. Skin color variations among African Americans play a major role in how they perceive beauty standards, social status and themselves. Intra-racial discrimination has been an ever-present issue for African Americans. It dates as far back as the antebellum period in America when African slaves were raped by their White masters. This new “race” multiplied in numbers to create the new “black bourgeoisie,” which served as a buffer between the African American community and the Whites, and further placed dark-skinned people as the lower inferior group (Frazier 215-17). The light complexion of this group allowed Whites to feel comfortable, yet never overlooking their African ancestry. The dark-skinned slaves thought that their light-skinned counterparts felt they were superior, so they developed hatred towards light skinned blacks, as well as a growing hatred for their own dark skin. In Wallace Thurman’s The Blacker the Berry, the protagonist, “Emma Lou” comments on a new acquaintance, “Hazel,” as she registers for classes at the University of Southern California: Emma Lou classified Hazel as a barbarian who had most certainly not come from a family of best people. No doubt her mother had been a washerwoman… innumerable relatives and friends all as ignorant and ugly as she.

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