The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans [Hardcover]

Kathy Russell (Author), Midge, Ph.D. Wilson (Author), Ronald E. Hall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1992

Confronting color discrimination within the black community, the authors deal honestly with issues of light- and dark-skinned people, how they relate to one another and how they are influenced by the legacy of racism. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drawing on interviews, history and sociology, the authors--a black woman, a white woman and a black man--ably survey the highly charged issue of discrimination among blacks on the basis of skin color. Their focal points range from miscegenation in colonial America to the historical role of the light-skinned elite in black churches and universities to trends in the hiring of black actors and models. The issues are complex: multiracial people debate whether they should consider themselves black or white, and a case of alleged "color harassment" has even reached the federal courts. Finally, as these authors persuasively argue, "Nearly everything the Blackstet cap woman (or man) does to her (or his) stet parens appearance is interpreted politically." Russell is a scriptwriter and poet; Wilson teaches psychology and women's studies at DePaul University in Chicago; Hall is a professor of social work at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

A courageous, humane, and provocative examination of how differences in color and features among African Americans have played and continue to play a role in their professional lives, friendships, romances, and families. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; 1st edition (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151191646
• ISBN-13: 978-0151191642
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #590,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Our "Dirty Laundry" is Stinkin' up the House!, January 2, 2003

By 

D. A. Martin "Avid Reader" (Morocco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans (Paperback)

I first read "The Color Complex" as a college student in 1996. As a dark-skinned Black male, this book brought to light the lion's share of all of the ostracism, ridicule, and occasional bullying that I experienced as a child. It also made me realize that a large segment of the Black community still does not want to acknowledge (let alone deal with) the fact that Black intra-racial color discrimination is still alive and well. Never under-estimate the power of denial.

It is very hypocritical that many Black "leaders (?)" prefer to always point the finger at White America for all of its sins, yet refuse to challenge us as Black folks to take a good, hard look at ourselves and how we treat each other. Bravo to the authors for "airing our dirty laundry" in a way that forces much needed and long overdue Black American community introspection.

This book will make some uncomfortable, but that's the point! Just like "Losing the Race" by John McWhorter, this books represents a much-needed wake-up call for Black Americans.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book, June 28, 2000

By 

M. Hill (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans (Paperback)

This book brings out of the closet a subtle yet important issue facing the African American community. I recommend it but give it 4 stars because of several weaknesses. Foremost, the authors do not provide a compelling political analysis of colorism, which I believe stems from the structure of race relations (white priviledge supported by U.S. institutions). Instead, they (unintentionally?) imply that humans have a species-wide tendency to favor light skin tone when they discuss similar color biases is several other selective populations.

Secondly, the composition and prose could have been a bit more polished.

The classic 1960's book BLACK RAGE touches on this and related issues. I would recommend that. Also, Itabari Njeri has a nice article on colorism in the Gerald Early's book LURE AND LOATHING.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As a medium complexion woman, this book opened my eyes, October 22, 2003

By 

Shanda D. Smalls "One People...One World...On... (Savannah, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans (Paperback)

I picked this book up, just for the sake of reading. I could NOT put this book down. As a graduate student who works full-time I don't have a lot of time to read for pleasure, but I read this book in 3 days! I was amazed about the depths of this issue, although I consider myself to be pretty in tune with Black issues I was shocked to read some of the things people say and believe b/c of skin tones. Or let me rephrase that the things people STILL say and beleive about complexion.

There were some extremely gut wrenching candid points made. For example, I was not aware that people in today's "modern" times were still "white-washing" their families or that people still engaged in "passing". The whole section on the importance of complexion and dating was wonderful. This book is very straight forward, easy to read, and candid.

I Learned that being a medium complexion gal, I often missed these extreme but common occurances expereinced by the two extremes. There was also, a tease of information about other races love-hate relationship with skin tone (mainly Asian and Latinos). Beautiful place to start to get your mind thinking.

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I think every person regardless of race should read this book, especially those in the helping professions (i.e. teachers, social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, ect.). It provides candid insight to a problem that many even Black Americans don't see.