In his 1996 book The Future of the Race, Henry Louis Gates Jr., the prominent Harvard historian, described his introduction to this practice as an undergraduate student at Yale in the late 1960's. According to Gates, "Some of the brothers who came from New Orleans held a bag party. A bag party was a New Orleans custom wherein a brown paper bag was stuck on the door. Anyone darker than the bag was denied entrance. That was one cultural legacy that would be put to rest in a hurry-we all made sure of that. But, it was replaced by an opposite test whereby those who were deemed "not black enough' ideologically were to be shunned. I was not sure this was an improvement." 

 Moving sixty years forward, Color-ism still exists. R&B singer Chris Brown has been called a “colorist” after the singer defended problematic lyrics from his new song, “Need a Stack,” which is from his newly released album, Indigo. The track, which features Lil' Wayne and Joyner Lucas, contains the lyrics, “Only wanna f**k the black b**ches with the nice hair.” 

Why use the bag as a barometer? Because it was believed to be midway between white and black hues.

Spike Lee's movie School Daze (1988) is often credited with creating a national dialogue about color-ism in African American communities. In this movie, set at an all-black college, there is a rivalry between the light-skinned, straight hair girls from the Gamma Ray sorority, and the dark-skinned Independents with short hair or Afro. It is noteworthy that the girls of the fictional Gamma Ray sorority had to be "paper-bag light." Just like in the real world, the light-skinned girls are more likely to be (or become) affluent. The movie did not create the dialogue-blacks have been discussing, debating, and dialoguing about color-ism since slavery-but it did add fuel and some context to the dialogue.

This episode will keep the flame burning as we discuss our individual experiences with Colorism. Join the CCC dialogue, we would love to hear your feedback.