The Black Student Alliance, United Sisters and the University chapter of the NAACP held a discussion Tuesday on the prevalence of colorism throughout history and in today’s society.
Fourth-year College student Cam Stewart, discussion coordinator for United Sisters and historian for BSA, led the discussion with a presentation about colorism, defining it as the “process that privileges light-skinned people of color over dark in areas such as income, education, housing and the marriage market.”
“Colorism is not a new phenomenon at all,” Stewart said, “but it’s slowly becoming something that we’re willing to talk about more. I don’t know if that’s because of the way it’s shown in mass media, or even if we’re just more attuned to what’s going on around us.”
Stewart said the history of colorism goes back to the enslavement period, when light-skinned African Americans were valued more highly than dark-skinned African Americans. This, Stewart said, can be partially attributed to the Similarity-Attraction Theory.
“White employers are more likely to hire people that look closer to them,” Stewart said. “That’s why lighter-skinned people have a higher probability of getting a job over somebody that’s dark-skinned.”
Two groups also discussed the “One-Drop Rule,” which was defined as the ability of a white woman to choose whether to define her child as white or black, while a black woman doesn’t have a say in the racial definition of her child.
In her personal experience, Stewart said colorism isn’t very prevalent at the University.
“Because I don’t think so much about colorism, and I accept people for who they are regardless of dark skin or lighter skin, I don’t think I have been more attuned to how that has played out at the University,” Stewart said. “Also because the University has such a huge population of Africans versus African-Americans, so if anything that’s what I’m more attuned to.”
Stewart said the University NAACP chapter and the Black Student Alliance will hold a second discussion on colorism in the near future.
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