Denielle Alexander

African American women: how colorism affects their self-esteem

Even though I’m an African American woman, I do not have all the answers on the subject of colorism amongst Blacks. Dr. White brought this topic to my attention by introducing the narrative of Linda Brent, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. It drew to my attention that skin color is more than the color of your flesh or ethnicity, but skin color can also have psychological and mental effects associated with it. This encouraged me to further conduct research my on topic: African American women and how colorism affects their self esteem. Just by scratching the surface of this sensitive issue, I learned more about the values African American women place on skin color as individuals, and their perceptions of other women of color.

KaaVonia Hinton-Johnson maintains that African American women, associate skin color in order to become accepted in society. According to her, the contrast between white and black is defined as being opposite from each and is used to create division. In addition, light skinned women of color and dark skinned women of color have always been viewed as unequal to each other, and their beauty characteristics are highly scrutinized.  The color white in western culture typical means being good, and angelic, while black is drastically its opposite; it is considered evil and the absorption of white. Hinton-Johnson two views on color have manifested into the destruction of how black women view their beauty and also have created a measurement of the definition of “what is beauty?”

Brita Lindberg Seyersted suggests that what defines beauty in the African American culture is skin color, eye color, and the texture of hair. She goes on to explain that the closer a person resembles the White race, the more they may be perceived as beautiful. A woman having long silky locks, light colored skin, blue eyes and a slender nose may be the definition of a beautiful black woman. This definition creates dramatic and damaging effects, only because black women will go to great lengths to: perm their hair and chemically alter the texture of it, to purchase blue or green contacts to be able to have pretty eye color, or to bleach their skin. Even though other women can medically alter their physical appearance, they don’t alter it to resemble another race. They only change how they look to enhance their beauty and fix what they don’t like about themselves. Black women, sometimes change the features that they naturally have, as being a part of the black race, which can indirectly send a message that being Black is unattractive and less beautiful.

My research did not specifically answer my question on how colorism affects black women. It just opened my eyes as to how the simple colors of black and white have helped African American women view themselves. Beauty will always have its certain measurement and definitions, but to alter your appearance can take away the natural beauty and lower the value of a person’s self esteem. Issues like this will never have a definite answer, but at least I was able to learn more about my gender and race. And it also made me look at some of the beauty regimes I have done to myself in order to fit in. I’ve also been a victim to the relaxers to straighten my hair, the hazel eye contacts in the 8^th grade, and the thought that if I was light skin I would be prettier.  Now, I think every black woman should embrace their beauty and research how African American women beauty is defined and what they can do to redefine these negative views of being Black and beautiful.

Johnson-Hinton, KaaVonia. "Subverting Beauty Aesthetics in African-American Young Adult Literature." Multicultural Review 14.2 (2005): 28-35. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 05 Apr. 2010.

Lindberg-Seyersted, Brita. "The Color Black; Skin Color As Social, Ethical, and Esthetic Sign In Writings by Black American Women." English Studies 1 (1992): 51-67. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.

Brinkman, Bartholomew. "Making Modern Poetry: Format, Genre and the Invention of Imagism(e)." Journal of Modern Literature 32.2 (2009): 1-23. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.

See, Sam. "'Spectacles in Color' The Primitive Drag of Langston Hughes." PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 124.3 (2009): 798-805. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 15 Apr. 2010.