Colorism: What It Is and How To Spot It

What it is, how to spot it, and what to do about it.

WHAT IS COLORISM?

Where racism discriminates against people based on their racial identity, colorism discriminates based on the shade or tone of a person’s complexion. As Dr. Webb points out, people of different races can have the same skin tone, and people of the same race can have different skin tones.

That means that this kind of bias can happen even among people of the same race or ethnicity. However, colorism is not self-imposed. It’s informed by centuries of racism and violence that forced individuals to align themselves with whiteness to survive. Colorism has become a lingering byproduct of racism that continues to uphold white supremacy to this day, and it impacts people of all races and ethnicities.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, those with colorist attitudes perceive people with lighter skin tones as more educated, attractive, prestigious, and capable than those with darker skin tones.

WHAT’S THE HISTORY OF COLORISM?

Colonization

Colorism and colonization are closely intertwined throughout the history of the world. From India to the Philippines to Latin America, regions with colonial histories have enduring legacies of colorism. Skin tone discrimination has roots in formal and informal social hierarchies of the colonial era, which often gave positions of nobility and power to those with lighter skin.

Colonizers who sought to conquer these regions also belonged to predominantly light-skinned communities. In their brutal conquest, they further influenced skin-based systems of oppression through the enslavement and eradication of darker-skinned natives of the lands they were colonizing.

(Note: pre-colonial caste systems did exist in some parts of the world, but during and after colonialism these social hierarchies were leveraged and exacerbated by the spread of global European standards.)

American Slavery

During the era of American slavery, skin tone helped determine an enslaved person’s work assignment, as enslavers often preferred light-skinned Mulatto people who were of mixed Black and white heritage. (Sometimes these captors even had familial ties to the Mulattos who they enslaved as a result of sexual violence against enslaved women.)

Enslaved people with lighter skin often worked in domestic positions within their captor’s home, while those with darker skin worked in the fields. As a result, they were allowed to move more freely around the plantation and learn skills and trades that their darker-skinned counterparts couldn't.

Mulattos were also more likely to be released by their enslavers. In 1860, about 76% of free Black Americans in the Deep South were Mulatto, even though only 9% of enslaved people were Mulatto. And these advantages continued even into the Reconstruction era, where they had “greater occupational prestige,” higher literacy rates, and lower mortality rates.

Paper Bag Test

The “paper bag test” is a discriminatory practice where a person’s skin must be lighter than a brown paper bag to gain admission into an exclusive group.

While the paper bag test has become a major piece of oral history and legend among the Black community, author and professor Audrey Elisa Kerr tracked down its very real origins to sororities, fraternities, social clubs, restaurants, parties, and places of worship from 1900 to 1950, which used the test to prevent darker-skinned Black people from accessing their spaces (which were both white- and Black-led).

Even in institutions where a literal paper bag test cannot be confirmed, the principle still informed things like college admissions and hiring practices of the time, which often required applicants to submit photo IDs for this purpose.

New York Times writer Brent Staples looked through archives of 1940s newspapers in his Pennsylvania hometown and found ads from employers that specifically called for “light colored” job applicants. He also learned that Black job seekers often prominently listed “light colored” as a qualification on their resumes, even ahead of their job experience and education.

Historic Representation

Even as more (though still limited) opportunities began to open up for Black Americans, light skin and its perceived proximity to whiteness continued to define who had the greatest access and mobility.

Of the 22 Black politicians elected to Congress during and immediately following Reconstruction, all but three are believed to be mixed race. According to The Skin Color Paradox and American Racial Order, about half had “marked Caucasian features -- light complexions and straight hair.”

While Black actors have always been underrepresented in Hollywood, when the first generation of Black actors were cast in the 20th century, lighter-skinned actors were preferred for prominent roles, and darker-skinned actors had to play lesser roles that perpetuated racist stereotypes.

Teachers in segregated schools before Brown v. The Board of Education reportedly held discriminatory attitudes that favored lighter-skinned students in the classroom and extracurricular activities.

WHAT ARE THE SYSTEMIC CONSEQUENCES OF COLORISM?

Criminal Justice

According to a nationally representative survey from Harvard professor Ellis Monk, the darkest skinned Black Americans have 121% higher odds of ever having been arrested compared to the lightest-skinned respondents (even when controlled for delinquency and prior illegal behavior). Just one-level increase in the darkness of respondents’ skin tone is associated with 13% higher odds of ever having been incarcerated.
According to a legal study out of Cornell Law School, Black Americans convicted of killing white Americans were sentenced to death 33% more often if they had darker skin. It was more impactful in sentencing than the defendant’s age, socioeconomic status, prior convictions, the severity of their crime, etc.
A study from Villanova researchers found that incarcerated light-skinned women were sentenced to approximately 12% less time (and served about 11% less time) than their darker-skinned counterparts.
One study found that darker skin tone correlated with higher odds of arrest for Latinx men and women, Asian women, and Black women (even after controlling for deviant behavior).

Employment & Status

Research from the University of Georgia found that employers showed a preference for lighter-skinned Black men than darker-skinned Black men regardless of education. According to their study, a light-skinned Black man could have only a Bachelor’s degree and average work experience and still be preferred over a dark-skinned Black man with an MBA and past managerial positions.
Another study found that employers interviewing applicants perceived lighter-skinned Black and Latinx applicants as more intelligent than those with darker skin.
According to one study, Black Americans with lighter skin have higher socioeconomic status and marry spouses higher in socioeconomic status. They found that the impact of skin color or shade was as impactful as race in American socioeconomic status.
One study on Indian arranged marriages found that darker-skinned marriage candidates were rated lower in preference by prospective mothers-in-law, compared with their light-skinned counterparts. Skin tone was a more important factor than the individuals’ educational and professional competency.
One study showed that the average wage for dark-skinned Black Americans was $11.72 compared to that of light-skinned Black Americans at $14.72 (and white Americans at $15.94).
According to one study, darker-skinned Cuban and Mexican Americans face higher levels of discrimination in the labor market than their light-skinned counterparts.

Health

According to one study, colorism is associated with worse physical health outcomes among Black Americans, including higher instances of cardiovascular disease, pain-related disorders, and overall morbidity.
Another study found that skin tone is a significant determinant of mortality among Black Americans. Light-skinned Black Americans had the lowest mortality hazard rate, while those with medium- and dark skin experienced significantly higher mortality.
Studies have also found links between colorism and negative mental and emotional health among darker-skinned individuals -- particularly darker-skinned Asian, Latinx, and Black American girls.
One study found a “significant” correlation between darker skin tone and increased experiences of prejudice among Asian Americans, which was associated with higher symptoms of depression. According to another study, Latinx Americans with darker skin are more likely to experience discrimination than those with lighter skin.

Education

One study found that skin tone is significantly associated with Black Americans’ educational attainment. The lightest-skinned Black Americans had about six months more schooling on average than the darkest-skinned black Americans, even after controlling for other factors like parents’ education, location, and age. (For respondents over the age of 30, the gap increased to a year and a half.)
Using data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, another study found that darker-skinned girls are 3.4 times as likely to be suspended than lighter-skinned girls, and darker-skinned boys are 2.5 times as likely to be suspended than lighter-skinned boys.
According to one study, skin tone greatly influences the outcomes of Black students post-graduation. Those with lighter skin were more likely to find a job and be in college than their peers with darker skin.

Gendered Colorism

Several studies suggest that colorism has a greater impact on darker-skinned Black women than men, though both experience color-based discrimination.
Black girls and women often internalize the colorist ideas that lighter skin is more attractive and associated with higher class. Because of the way society treats them, skin tone can become more important to Black womens’ self-esteem than their personal success in education and career.
Black women with darker complexions long to be lighter at a rate almost 3 times the average for Black Americans, and girls as young as six are two times as likely as boys to be sensitive about the social importance of skin color.
Popular Indian matrimonial sites make it mandatory for women (but not men) to mention their skin tone on their profiles, and those with lighter skin are seen as more “marriageable.”
Dark-skinned women in rural India are often coerced into marriages with men who use “dark-skin shaming” to discipline them into compliance with unfair demands for labor.

WHAT ARE SOME POP CULTURE EXAMPLES OF COLORISM?

Colorist incidents can elicit traumatic stress responses in those who experience them. This phenomenon is known as skin tone trauma, and it can lead to negative effects on health, emotional and psychological wellbeing, and interpersonal relationships. Below are a few contemporary examples of colorist incidents.

Beauty

Filters on Instagram and Snapchat often lighten users’ skin tone in the name of “beautifying” and “enhancement.”
Skin bleaching products and treatments are still widely available today -- part of a centuries-long legacy of women pressured by colorist society to whiten their skin with dangerous chemicals and procedures. Even though cosmetic giants like L’Oreal and Unilever are trying to rebrand their whitening creams, they’re still available for purchase and serve the same purpose.
Makeup companies consistently fail to offer foundation and concealer in a wide and inclusive range of shades, leaving consumers with dark skin to choose from just a few shades or excluded altogether. This notoriously happened a few years back with Tarte’s highly anticipated Shape Tape foundation line.

Fashion

Popular online fashion brands, while claiming to be more inclusive than legacy brands, primarily advertise with lighter-skinned models. For example, beauty youtuber Jackie Aina stopped collaborating with Fashion Nova for their refusal to include darker-skinned models on their Instagram even after she brought up the colorist disparity.
The fashion industry often associates the color nude with light skin, which means that darker-skinned consumers struggle to find “nude” clothing that matches their skin tone. Sometimes even those companies that actively try to be inclusive of non-white consumers fail to meet the unique needs of dark-skinned individuals (like what happened with Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS face masks).
High fashion magazines like Vogue are frequently being called out for colorism in their cover models -- both because of a lack of dark-skinned models and for lightening models’ skin with photo editing.

Media

There’s a colorist trend in TV and films that casts light-skinned Black and biracial actors more often than dark-skinned actors as protagonists and romantic interests -- from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Bridgerton.
A majority of the up-and-coming class of young Black Hollywood actors have lighter complexions, and it’s led to criticism for the casting of light-skinned actors over dark-skinned actors in projects like The Hate U Give and Raising Dion.
Colorism also extends to animated media. For example, The Proud Family, a childrens’ series that aired on Disney Channel, used colorist troupes to portray Penny, the light-skinned protagonist, as smart and beloved, while portraying Dijonay, her dark-skinned best friend, as undesirable and obnoxious (and often the butt of the show’s jokes).
The film Straight Outta Compton released a casting call that ranked the “type” of women they were looking to cast from A to D. They specifically asked for medium- and dark-skinned women to audition as “D-girls” and for lighter skinned women to audition for the higher ranking roles.

Music

Several of the most popular Black women in the musical mainstream are light-skinned: Cardi B, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Alicia Keys, and Mariah Carey, to name a few.

There are several examples of colorism in music lyrics. Sometimes they glorify “yellowbone” and “redbone,” terms used to describe individuals with lighter skin tones and yellow or red undertones:

“Beautiful Black woman, I bet that b*** look better red.”* (Lil Wayne in “Right Above It”)
“My gear is in and I'm in the in-crowd / And all the wavy light-skinned girls is lovin' me now.” (Jay-Z, in “December 4th”)
“I like them light skin, lighter than a feather / And if she red hot, I'm biting that pepper.” (Lil Wayne in “Redbone Girl”)

Misc.

People have used image darkening to weaponize colorist bias against individuals who they want to portray negatively. TIME was called out years ago for altering OJ Simpson’s mug shot on their cover, and more recently, former Georgia senate candidate Kelly Loeffler used darkened images of her opponent Sen. Raphael Warnock in campaign ads.
The stratification of people on social media into #TeamLightskin and #TeamDarkskin furthers colorist division and stereotypes, often with memes that portray people with dark skin as less successful and attractive.