Skin Deep: How Race and Complexion Matter in the "Color-Blind" Era

by Cedric Herring (Editor), Verna M. Keith (Editor), Hayward Derrick Horton (Editor)

Why do Latinos with light skin complexions earn more than those with darker complexions? Why do African American women with darker complexions take longer to get married than their lighter counterparts? Why did Michael Jackson become lighter as he became wealthier and O.J. Simpson became darker when he was accused of murder? Why is Halle Berry considered a beautiful sex symbol, while Whoopi Goldberg is not? Skin Deep provides answers to these intriguing questions.

This book-by some of the nation's leading experts on race and colorism-shatters the myth of the color-blind society. It shows that skin tone discrimination occurs not only among people from different races, but also among members of the same race or ethnic group.

Although most white Americans maintain that they do not judge others on the basis of skin color, Skin Deep documents how and why complexion remains a determining factor in educational attainment, occupational status, income, and other quality of life indicators. The essays in this eye-opening collection show how skin tone inequality is both imposed upon communities of color from the outside, and aided and abetted by community members themselves. The essays also show the ways in which the stratification process are similar for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans.

Skin Deep also addresses such issues as the relationship between skin tone and self esteem, marital patterns, interracial relationships, socioeconomic attainment, and family racial identity and composition. The essays in this accessible book also grapple with emerging issues such as biracialism, color-blind racism, and 21st century notions of race in the U.S. and in other countries.

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 2003