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Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America's Diverse Families Paperback – October 3, 2017

by Lori L. Tharps (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 43 ratings
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Weaving together personal stories, history, and analysis, Same Family, Different Colors explores the myriad ways skin-color politics affect family dynamics in the United States.

Colorism and color bias—the preference for or presumed superiority of people based on the color of their skin—is a pervasive and damaging but rarely openly discussed phenomenon. In this unprecedented book, Lori L. Tharps explores the issue in African American, Latino, Asian American, and mixed-race families and communities by weaving together personal stories, history, and analysis. The result is a compelling portrait of the myriad ways skin-color politics affect family dynamics in the United States.

Tharps, the mother of three mixed-race children with three distinct skin colors, uses her own family as a starting point to investigate how skin-color difference is dealt with. Her journey takes her across the country and into the lives of dozens of diverse individuals, all of whom have grappled with skin-color politics and speak candidly about experiences that sometimes scarred them. From a Latina woman who was told she couldn’t be in her best friend’s wedding photos because her dark skin would “spoil” the pictures, to a light-skinned African American man who spent his entire childhood “trying to be Black,” Tharps illuminates the complex and multifaceted ways that colorism affects our self-esteem and shapes our lives and relationships. Along with intimate and revealing stories, Tharps adds a historical overview and a contemporary cultural critique to contextualize how various communities and individuals navigate skin-color politics.

Groundbreaking and urgent, Same Family, Different Colors is a solution-seeking journey to the heart of identity politics, so that this more subtle “cousin to racism,” in the author’s words, will be exposed and confronted.
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  1. Print length
    216 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Beacon Press
  4. Publication date
    October 3, 2017
  5. Dimensions
    5.8 x 0.6 x 8.8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0807071080
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0807071083
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“With great sensitivity and unapologetic boldness, Tharps skillfully weaves the rich historical context of the United States, the Americas and Asia with wrenching contemporary first-person accounts to investigate how color operates in the most intimate spaces of American families...This thoughtful, honest, historically textured and valuable book offers a detailed and current syllabus of work on the social and cultural meanings of colorism around the world and brings colorism ‘out of the closet.’”
—Allyson Hobbs, New York Times Book Review

“Same Family, Different Colors is the first book on colorism to take us inside African American, Latino, Asian, and interracial families as they speak candidly about how the politics of skin color shape their family dynamics and lives. Lori Tharps explores this taboo and urgent subject with courage, vision, and great sensitivity.”
—Michael Eric Dyson

“A nuanced, forthright, emotionally compelling take on a painful subject.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“The proximity of my skin to whiteness will probably protect me from having my face blown off by a stranger behind a locked door in the middle of the night, but what of my daughter? She, like Renishia McBride, is ‘black from a distance’ and a threat in many places. Colorism in society is dangerously complicated. Colorism in the family is painful. Tharps’s provocative book has the potential to be powerfully healing, but it won’t be a pretty process.”
—Michaela Angela Davis, image activist/cultural critic/light, blonde, and black

“A compassionate exploration of colorism in the most private realms of our lives—with our familias—Same Family, Different Colors is a much-needed book for a country (and a world) that grows more multi-hued with every passing year. Tharps combines journalism with history, memoir, and good old-fashioned storytelling to weave a powerful thread across communities and to suggest new ways of embracing our collective futures.”
—Daisy Hernández, author of A Cup of Water Under My Bed

“Colorism is a topic people of color are reluctant to talk about, but Lori Tharps investigates this difficult subject with grace, humility, and inclusiveness. Through historical context and frank personal stories, Same Family, Different Colors creates a powerful mediation on what so often goes unsaid even in the closest of families. With its fascinating multicultural focus, there’s something here for everyone to learn about themselves, and others.”
—Mat Johnson, author of Loving Day

About the Author

Lori L. Tharps is an associate professor of journalism at Temple University and the coauthor of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America and Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain. Her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Glamour and Essence magazines. She lives in Philadelphia with her family.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press; Reprint edition (October 3, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 216 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807071080
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807071083
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.8 x 0.6 x 8.8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 43 ratings

About the author

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Lori L. Tharps

Lori L. Tharps

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Lori L. Tharps is the author of two award-winning non-fiction books, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America and Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain. Her debut novel, Substitute Me was released in August 2010. Her fourth book, Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America's Diverse Families (Beacon) was released in October, 2016.

When Tharps is not writing books, she teaches journalism at Temple University, where she is an associate professor in the School of Media and Communication. She also continues to write for magazines, newspapers and online media outlets and is the host of the podcast, My American Meltingpot.

Although it sounds rather boring, Tharps' greatest pleasure in life is reading. Other people's books of course, not her own.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
43 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

babaganouj
5.0 out of 5 stars Different Colors is highly recommended as an introduction to the challenge of colorism
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2016
Verified Purchase
Professor Lori Tharps has produced a pathbreaking study on colorism---the favored treatment of a light skinned member of a race, ethnic group or nationality. Colorism occurs in the United States, Latin America, Europe, India and East Asia. Based on her personal experience (each of her three children has a different skin tone) and interviews with Black, Latino and Asian people in the United States, Tharps explains the concerns parents have about favoring one child over a sibling or siblings, and equipping a darker skinned child to encounter a color conscious society.

Having light skin is not always an advantage. Tharps discusses the importance of tribal affiliation among members of all races. Accordingly, many light skinned people feel isolated within their own race, ethnic group, or nationality.

With pride, Tharps celebrates nascent world-wide efforts to address colorism.

Though the topic is serious, Same Family, Different Colors is a pleasure to read. Tharps tells stories from her own life and warmly recounts experiences of the people she interviews. By the time the book is finished, the reader considers Tharps a friend.

Tharps teaches journalism at Temple University. She must be an exemplary teacher, as her own writing is clear, concise and fast moving.

Same Family, Different Colors is highly recommended as an introduction to the challenge of colorism.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Some highs, Some Lows Overall Worth It
Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2023
The high points of this book include: historical research on the history of color castes in Latin America (Mexico specifically), the US and Asia, descriptions of colorist behavior and how it manifests in the Black community, Asian communities, and Latino communities. Evidence that anti-blackness is a world-wide phenomenon. Interviews. Honest, and heartfelt.

Low points: Too much talk about sunscreen.

The overall conclusion asserts that biracial peoples main struggle is figuring out where they belong, but she never examines that possibility that even black people who look black don't fit in with other blacks. Maybe self-acceptance is more important that identifying yourself with some larger tribe. Alienation isn't a problem that only affects light people in the black community. I mean where do you think biracial babies come from in the first place? If all darker skinned people fit in with their tribe, they wouldn't have kids with people outside of it, right?

Just my thoughts.
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Marianne Morgan
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2018
Verified Purchase
nice new hardback.
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♫Grandma Rocks♫
3.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't have the foundation to back up the claim
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2023
Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Its not proclaiming to be a research book, so I am not holding it to that standard. What it does claim is "weaving together personal stories, histories, and analysis" to explore how skin-color politics affect family dynamics. I was expecting some sort of argument/claim, support for that argument/claim, and conclusion by use of the word "analysis," but a book doesn't have to be academic to contain that framework.
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Amy Henley
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a good way to understand and start a conversation about colorism in America
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2016
Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Like it says on the cover-this book confronts colorism in America's diverse families. The author interviewed every day people and public figures (authors, academics, celebrities, journalists, and activists) to gather experiences to discuss in this book. I know another reviewer panned the book for lack of a research foundation - "There are lots of scholarly/technical notions that are not included." Speaking as someone that has a Ph.D. and has read and wrote scholarly journal articles, that is not what I was expecting from this book. Its not proclaiming to be a research book, so I am not holding it to that standard. What it does claim is "weaving together personal stories, histories, and analysis" to explore how skin-color politics affect family dynamics. I was expecting some sort of argument/claim, support for that argument/claim, and conclusion by use of the word "analysis," but a book doesn't have to be academic to contain that framework. This book does have a logical framework that includes both science and culture in terms the average person can understand and appreciate.

The author covers the most prevalent "colors" that make up America and uses the terms African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and mixed-race Americans to describe those of color. As you might guess by the use of the word America, this is not about other countries like Brazil and Japan. Although making reference to what occurs in other countries to shed light on how those in America are treated the same or different is not a bad idea, but is not necessary for the scope of this book. The book contains stories and anecdotes from diverse people across the United States.

I think the opening quote by James McBride sets a good tone to start the book - God's spirit doesn't have a color- "God is the color of water." I take that quote to mean we are all in this together (little drops in the same big ocean) and no color is better or worse than another, just different. That is a nice sentiment, and one I hold dear to my heart, and ideally that is how we would all treat each other. However, if everyone felt that way, we might not need this book. And, we do need books like this one, if our goal is to understand and positively change the way we think about color in America.

I agree with the author that talking about color is hard. I moved around a lot as a kid, and all over the United States (North, South, East, West, big cities, and small towns) due to my Dad's job. He was a VP salesman. I had to learn how to quickly make friends at new schools. This moving around every few years, while difficult, afforded me opportunities to meet and become friends with people of all different races, colors, creeds, and religions. I'm a fair skinned white woman married to a dark skinned black man, and I have had friends in all the color categories applied in this book. I remember the conversations I've had about color, racism, stereotypes, and prejudice with people I barely know and with people about which I care deeply. Despite any close connections these conversations were not always easy. The only times they were easy was if everyone that was part of the discussion felt the exact same way about the same issues. As you might guess that did not happen every time. I can only speak for myself - sometimes these conversations were civil and improved my understanding, and sometimes the group decided to end the conversation before things got too heated. I feel like these discussions are important for me to have, though at times difficult, because I want to learn about other people, their experiences, and their view on life. I'm hoping their experiences will give me a chance to grow for the better. If enough of us improve our understanding, I'm hoping we can make positive changes in the United States. I wonder how some of those conversations might have gone differently for the better, if we all read this book first to come from a shared context.

I really feel that this book is about understanding ourselves and others. I think most people that will want to read this book will do so with an open mind and a mind seeking understanding. As I write this review in September of 2016, a lot has happened to increase tension between people of different colors. So many people are angry. I can only hope that books like this one will at least start a conversation that can lead to positive change.
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