Within our skin there is beauty.
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| Livia Agyekem |
For many black women in America the idea of beauty can range
from various factors. These factors may include how loose the coils of their
hair are to the lightness of your skin complexion. Nevertheless, society has
lead black women to false ideologies on what is considered beauty in America.
These ideas may have been collated from the days of slavery in the 1600’s
America. It is believed that, Mulatto, biracial, women generally received
favorable treatment from the Masters family. Not because of lineage
inheritance, rather, they were considered more pleasing to look at. These women
were the ones to adhere to duties within the home rather to agriculture in the
blazing sun.
These ideas continued to evolve well into the 1900’s where
blacks of a lighter complexion in society where educated and given priority
leadership roles. Women with families of lighter complexion were considered the
elite in black communities.
One study explains how they reigned at the top of
the hierarchy pole within the black social class and status.
The perspective of black beauty has emerged into the minds
of children in today's society . When a
doll test was conducted among young children in America two dolls very much alike except their skin color was
placed in front of the children. When ask who is the pretties and kindest the
children pointed to the doll that resembled the European descent. When asked
which doll is the ugliest and bad, most of them pointed to the doll of African
descent. Ultimately, each of these events and beliefs has given lighter skin
women mobility to move up the social stratification hierarchy ladder and
favoritism in black America.
The issue of colorism is a
global issue that moves far
beyond the shade of a black woman’s skin, but the idea of beauty that lies
within.
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