User:Jaljoe2018/sandbox

Beauty and Business

Colorism has been happening since 1619. When people think of racism it's usually against people outside of their ethnicity. Colorism is discrimination against African Americans because they have a dark complexion. The idea of racism and colorism are pretty similar. Someone with a light complexion is considered to be more beautiful or valuable than someone with dark skin. During the time that African Americans were forced into slavery, slave owners would use the "paper bag test," it compared their skin color to a paper bag to distinguish whether their complexion was too dark to work inside of the house .Skin color has been a significant aspect of society’s perception of beauty and social status for decades. African Americans' desire for lighter complexions and European features goes back to slavery. Slaves that had a lighter complexion would have the privilege to work indoors while slaves with darker skin were required to work outside in the fields. The complexions of African American Slaves reflected how they got treated and the severity of their punishments if they didn’t comply to their lifestyle that they were forced into.   Racial discrimination and colorism affect African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans because they don't get as much access to opportunities within jobs and school compared to caucasians. Slave owners would sometimes give slaves that had lighter skin the opportunity to learn to read. Slaves with a dark complexion would get beaten and shamed because of their appearance and would usually have to endure harder labor. "Studies have shown that due to societal influences, people associate beauty with lighter skin. This is especially evident in children. This belief has led dark-skinned children to feel inadequate in who they are and inferior when compared to people with lighter skin. African American women believe they would have better luck dating if they were of lighter skin especially when dating African American men"'''(These sentences seem opinionated and lack evidence and details to support their idea without it appearing bias.) '''