Question

What are the origins of colorism in America?

Answer 1

Answer:

In the United States, colorism evolved when the enslavement of people was common practice. Enslavers typically gave preferential treatment to enslaved people with fairer complexions. While dark-skinned enslaved people toiled outdoors in the fields, their light-skinned counterparts usually worked indoors at far less grueling domestic tasks. Enslavers were partial to light-skinned enslaved people because they often were family members. Enslavers frequently forced enslaved women into sexual intercourse, and the light-skinned children of enslaved people were the telltale signs of these sexual assaults. While enslavers didn't officially recognize their mixed-race children, they gave them privileges that dark-skinned enslaved people didn't enjoy. Accordingly, light skin came to be viewed as an asset in the community of enslaved people. Outside the United States, colorism may be more related to class than to white supremacy. Although European colonialism has undoubtedly left its mark worldwide, colorism is said to predate contact with Europeans in Asian countries. There, the idea that white skin is superior to dark skin may derive from ruling classes typically having lighter complexions than peasant classes. While peasants became tanned as they labored outdoors, the privileged had lighter complexions because they didn’t. Thus, dark skin became associated with lower classes and light skin with the elite. Today, the premium on light skin in Asia is likely tangled up with this history, along with cultural influences of the Western world.