Capitol Hill Blue Forums Life and Moral Issues Education High Yellow

i've been reading through the thread and one thing missing about high yellow is this, it's also been used as a classist slur, if you will, within the black american community. within the black community historically the darker the skin the less likely you are to be viewed as "superior." this is also the case on the african continent where lighter skin in the north of the continent is viewed as more favorable and "black" africa is seen as a negative.

That's true, 2wins, but it was also used as a derogatory term BY black people in sixties, for people who didn't look "black enough" for black power.

It's a phrase that managed to be ugly in several different ways.

I am a native Californian also...although 10 years older than CA Rick, and I have heard the term both here in CA and in the South, where my maternal relatives reside. You are right. It is used as a racial epithet by some.

And from the bookworm: A few years back a black writer published a book entitled Our Kind of People. I don't remember it ever using the phrase "high yellow" but it was quite informative about prejudice within the African-American society, particularly prior to the 1960s. I learned about Jack and Jill clubs and the paper bag test. The writer took a pretty that's-the-way-it-was tone and didn't come across as too judgemental. I remember reading several pages of reviews of it on Amazon.com during a less hectic time in my life, way before I discovered y'all.

quick off topic still...
thanks Mick, now that you mention it, that is the way I remember my mother telling it too.
The Old Sears building.....Army draft office was in that area too.
I love that part of Atlanta. We've just rediscovered it and stay in a funky old hotel just off Ponce on Highland.

Yep, it's a sad state of affairs. Even today in India, you can find ads in the personal column of the English-language papers seeking light-skinned women as spouses.

If your light, you're all right! If you're brown, hang around! If you're black, get back!

interestingly, india's state of racial affairs can be traced back a couple thousand years to the invasion of the aryan tribes. to avoid any confusion you can read up on the aryans here.