Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the "Color-Blind" Era [Paperback]

Cedric Herring (Editor), Verna M. Keith (Editor), Hayward Derrick Horton (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1929011261 | ISBN-13: 978-1929011261 | Publication Date: October 2003

Why do Latinos with light skin complexions earn more than those with darker complexions? Why do African American women with darker complexions take longer to get married than their lighter counterparts? Why did Michael Jackson become lighter as he became wealthier and O.J. Simpson became darker when he was accused of murder? Why is Halle Berry considered a beautiful sex symbol, while Whoopi Goldberg is not? Skin Deep provides answers to these intriguing questions. It shows that although most white Americans maintain that they do not judge others on the basis of skin color, skin tone remains a determining factor in educational attainment, occupational status, income, and other quality of life indicators. Shattering the myth of the color-blind society, Skin Deep is a revealing examination of the ways skin tone inequality operates in America. The essays in this collection-by some of the nation's leading thinkers on race and colorism-examine these phenomena, asking whether skin tone differentiation is imposed upon communities of color from the outside or is an internally-driven process aided and abetted by community members themselves. The essays also question whether the stratification process is the same for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Skin Deep addresses such issues as the relationship between skin tone and self esteem, marital patterns, interracial relationships, socioeconomic attainment, and family racial identity and composition. The essays in this accessible book also grapple with emerging issues such as biracialism, color-blind racism, and 21st century notions of race in the U.S. and in other countries.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This collection of essays by various social scientists focuses on inter- and intrarace color consciousness in this era of purported color blindness. Though the primary emphasis is on African American and Latino subjects, the contributors also explore color consciousness among Southeast Asians and Brazilians. Some of the most interesting essays center on Americans of biracial heritage and the political fallout from their struggle for self-definition. All of the contributors confirm that "color" matters, with value weighted in favor of lightness. The biracial struggle to identify as "other than black" reflects internal and social forces that favor lighter-colored skin. This quest for status suggests that the African American fight against second-class citizenship in America may be supplanted by a fight against third-class citizenship. This work is a worthy primer on the import of race and color in America, but its greatest value may be as an indicator of America's future direction on the issue. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Skin Deep is a major contribution. It effectively deals with the complexity of colorism. . . . -- Professor Charles V. Willie, Harvard University, October 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Inst Research on Race & Public Policy (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929011261
• ISBN-13: 978-1929011261
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now Is the Time, May 25, 2005

By 

Journey (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the "Color-Blind" Era (Paperback)

I am not afraid to look the reality of colorism in the eye and acknowledge that it does exist within the black community. It is my greatest hope and dream that someday the dark skinned black and the light skinned black will be seen as the one family in the future. I want so much to love the lightskinned sister and brother as my own reflection and not be divided from them or made to feel that one is treated better than the other, but sadly, that day is not here and this book bravely and powerfully illustrates that point to the fullest.

I am a medium brown colored woman, my mother was very dark skinned and I have witnessed the evils of skin color prejudice all my life. In most situations, it was Black Men who were prejudiced against myself and the women around me beccause of our coloring. These men felt no shame or limit in their racist intra-family prejudice and measured their entire lives by how many light skinned or white women they could attain and how light brite their children could come out. It's everywhere and anyone who denies it is both a fool and a liar.

That is why I highly recommend THE BLACKER THE BERRY by Wallace Thurman. There is no truer portrait of the self-hatred among our people than the one extolled in this book, and what makes it even sadder is that this book was written in the 1920's. So that only shows how deep this kind of evil runs.

Lately, I have become very interested in this subject and I have searched for other books that explore this subject with intelligence, honest, beauty and wisdom and I have found several that I consider to be classics on the subject of Colorism.

(1) MARITA GOLDEN'S book "Don't Play In the Sun" is definitely the most modern up to date book of the bunch. It expertly weaves the story of her life experiences in the 1960's Black Power movement with the current struggles of women like Serena Williams and India Arie to find their way in the world, even in the midst of being shunned and ignored by the black community itself. The book's analysis of the Hollywood casting system and the "Mulatto Follies" of BET and MTV is priceless.

(2) "The Bluest Eye" by TONI MORRISON is by far the most riveting and painful book that I have read on this subject of colorism. I believe that her book, more than any mother, gets to the psychological and historical root cause of the problem and exposes the mode in which we pass the problem on generation to generation. The destruction of an innocent black girl named Pecola Breedlove will leave you heartbroken and shocked as you see the bold naked truth unfold right before your eyes. You can't ignore this book, because the story being told is the one that you are all too familiar with no matter what color you are.

(3) "Flesh and the Devil" by African novelist KOLA BOOF is another deeply powerful book that examines colorism, but not out in the open. This book is unique in that it focuses on a very enchanting love story between a Black Prince and Princess and follows their reincarnations through history as they struggle to find their way back to each other. Through detailed moments in black history, both in Africa and the United States, the provocative author highlights the way that black people originally viewed their beauty and humanity and then juxtuposes it against the way they see themselves now in the modern world. The result is nothing less than devastating. I love this book so much, because the storytelling is so rich and the depth is so sweeping and grand. Anyone who loves good writing and is proud to be descended from the Black race will find themselves literally changed forever by the powerful images depicted in this very poetically moving story.

(4) "The Color Complex"--VARIOUS AUTHORS, is a very simple, straight forward analysis from a sociological point of view. Much research and statistical facts are used to illustrate that our communities are infested with these issues.

(5) "The Darkest Child" by Dolores Philips is another great novel that shows us the poor blacks who live under the poverty line ingesting these complex social hierarchies based on color and how they not only expose their children to them, but force the entire community to live by the "color code". Everybody is used to it from slavery and the system goes on and on unchallenged. In this book, Tangy Mae, the darkest of 10 children by the white-looking mother Rozelle, struggles to find her dignity and confidence in the midst of her evil light skinned mother inflicting one horrid abuse on top of the other. One thing I will say for the evil white-looking mother, Rozelle, is that she treated all of her children hiddeously and with contempt, from the whitest to the blackest. But she killed the child who was born looking like Tangy Mae and that spoke volumnes. This book is a very real metaphor for what goes on. Very real.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Accessible Book Also Grapple With Emerging Issues Such As Biracialism,..., July 16, 2008

By 

Aung Htun (811 Lavina St. Fort Wayne IN 46802-4030) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the "Color-Blind" Era (Paperback)

".....Skin Deep addresses such issues as the relationship between skin tone and self-esteem, marital patterns, interracial relationships, socioeconomic attainment, and family racial identity and composition.

The essays in THIS ACCESSIBLE BOOK ALSO GRAPPLE WITH EMERGING ISSUES SUCH AS BIRACIALISM, color-blind racism, and 21st century notions of race in the U.S. and in other countries."
[from the book of the back cover]

3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exploring the stratification process, December 12, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the "Color-Blind" Era (Paperback)

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Cedric Herring (Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, University of Illinois - Chicago), Verna M. Keith (Chair of the Department of Sociology, Arizona State University), and Hayward Derrick Horton (Associate Professor of Sociology, Albany University-SUNY), Skin/Deep: How Race And Complexion Matter In The "Color-Blind" Era is a collection of informative and informative essays concerning the very real and entangled issues of race, judgement, and the question of why skin color remains a determining factor of economic success and quality of life in America today. Exploring the stratification process, cause and effect chains, emerging issues such as biracialism and color-blind racism and a great deal more, Skin/Deep is a highly recommended contribution to Contemporary Social Issues reading lists and offers a wealth of persuasively argued and deftly presented viewpoints.