Light Brights and Tar Babies: Colorism in the African American Media (2011)

Undergraduate: Ashleigh Riley

Faculty Advisor: Michele Berger
Department: Women's and Gender Studies

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Due to the favoritism of lighter skin and Blacks of mixed heritage, the concept of colorism has permeated into the minds of African Americans, and they in turn, pass it down to their offspring. In modern society, Blacks with lighter skin and loose, curly hair are considered to be the most attractive and desirable while their darker counterparts are left as outcasts and not considered beautiful. African American media including but not restricted to film, literature, and journalism portray light skinned African Americans as representations of the race though most African Americans do not favor the traits of the models portrayed. In this paper, I analyze Black films and how they subliminally portray light-skinned Blacks as the standards of beauty while making a mockery of darker-skinned Blacks. I analyze the context of the portrayals of both groups and how the exposure of these depictions are detrimental to the relationships between light and dark-skinned African American women.