We Wear The Mask: Blackface and Colorism

Introduction

We Wear the Mask by Paul Dunbar primarily was about wearing this “mask” to protect yourself from society's judgment. It focuses in on black individuals who hide their true selves as well as feelings to survive and be accepted into a white society. The Veil of Self-Consciousness by W.E.B Dubois had a very similar plot line to it as well. This was about how the white world failed to notice who the African Americans were and what their purpose was. These black individuals were also fighting within themselves because they lost who they truly were and what they represented due to the fact they were only listening to how white America described them to be. Throughout history African Americans have always put on a mask to protect their families as well as themselves. Learning this during the semester really irritated me and how some white individuals still perceive them to be the same as it was previously in history. It brought me to a question, why did white people put on a mask to perform as a black person and how is this still in front of our faces in present time today?

There has been a long history of portraying black people while being white. The first ever example of this was blackface. Blackface dates back to the 1800s as a performance by whites. They used burnt corks or shoe polish to darken their faces as well as put on ripped clothes mimicking enslaved African Americans. They portrayed blacks as lazy, violent, ignorant, hypersexual, and so much more. The first blackface character was Jim Crow, making headlines everywhere and influencing other places to start blackface as well. These performance grew significantly popular at the end of the Civil War and racism became massive against the African American race when they demanded full citizenship as well as a right to vote. Blackface than took on many forms in entertainment industry such as: media, makeup, costumes, and much more. Blackface still is present on media and performances today as well as present in halloween costumes.

Blackface is portrayed differently in 2019 in the media and in the entertainment industry. Blackface has now transitioned itself to the term that is known as colorism. Colorism is discriminating against a person based on the color of their skin and from colorism came many lost opportunities for those of color. Colorism also can be within the same culture. Colorism is different from racism because racism is the belief about the racial inferiority of a particular group. Colorism is thought to only have negative implications for individuals of a darker tone of skin, but light skinned African Americans have been victims of colorism throughout history too. In Hollywood movies, there is an absence of African American actors and actresses as leading roles. Even though African Americans are casted, the movie chooses lighter skinned individuals rather than the darker skinned individuals. As directors made these choices to choose one over the other, it placed both sides of the black community in a situation where they were put into categories. These new categories created tension between their own communities that still is present.

Colorism in the Entertainment Industry

Since the darker African Americans were rarely chosen for roles they started doing things to their skin that was unnecessary . If people, mostly black women, were not able to pass for white they would alter their skin tones to become white. They did this using lighter makeup to conceal their blackness and they would also use bleaching cream to dye their skin in places people saw. The white people and lighter skinned were staring in these Hollywood films giving few rare parts to the darker skinned African Americans. When the darker skinned individuals received parts in films it was to portray racist sterotypes against black people. African American audiences were tired of seeing themselves portrayed in such stereotypical and racist ways in which they were not. African American theaters and films grew enormously popular between the 1910s and 1950s. These new movies were created for all black people and usually used an all-black cast. These new films portrayed the black actors as well as actresses in a way most African Americans could relate to.

Even though many of these films were produced in the twentieth century, they still were never shown on larger theater screens as well as never shown to larger diverse audiences. Even though African Americans of the twentieth century took action in changing the views of themselves and giving more opportunities within their culture, colorism still exists in the twenty-first century today. The black entertainment industry, in the last few years, has been bringing up the discussion of colorism and addressed it to the nation to make us more aware of this recurring problem.

Colorism, again still is occuring in our everyday lives and being put right in front of our faces. But let’s go back to when colorism first really started with the slave-owners. Slave owners would engage in sexual intercourse with the enslaved African American women. The result of the sexual interocurse was light-skinned children. The light-skinned children would get privileges over everyone which caused much hatred in the enslaved community. During the period of slavery there was also the house negro and the field negro. What these terms usually meant to the slaves is the lighter skinned African Americans got to work in the house with the master as well as eat better food and have less restrictions that of the darker skinned African Americans. This quickly divided the entire race as tensions grew between families and friends. Shortly after the slave the Brown Paper Bag Test that was created. The Brown Paper Bag Test determined privileges among those of color. If the individuals skin matched or was lighter than the brown paper bag, than you received those privileges than those who didn’t meet this requirement.This test was commonly used in the higher African American societies to prove if an individual was white enough to be accepted into anything. Hundreds of black institutions including Howard University’s own, Phi Alpha Phi, used this test to distinguish if you were fit for their fraternity. Many churches and civic group of this time used this test as well. African Americans of the time didn’t understand that this tactic was color favoritism as well as a form of colorism, but the white race used this to divide and control the African American race. While black people were arguing over which skin color was better, they didn’t realize that they weren’t solving this problem, but just making it deeper than what it was. In present day, lighter skinned African Americans are more favored in the entertainment industry.

Colorism has existed and still does today. My first example is colorism in movies. One example is when Zoe Saldana played Nina Simone in the biographical movie Nina. Throughout the movie Zoe Saldana is wearing darker makeup and a fake nose to become her character, Nina Simone (Racism and Colorism). So why couldn’t Hollywood choose someone who looked close to what she looked like.. In most movies featuring African American women the darker-skinned women are mostly portrayed as being ghetto and aggressive, but the lighter-skinned women are beautiful and more lady like. Which brings up the problem that lighter skin is always better.

Colorism in Magazines

Colorism in magazines. In one L’oreal advertisement, Beyonce’s skin was lightened to appeal to the white women’s eyes. (Racism and Colorism) Another example is when OJ Simpson skin is darkened in Time magazine to look more vile than before the skin darkening. It makes sense because darkening the skin in history to white people meant evil.

But, then there are exceptions to these imaginary rules. Lupita Nyong’o is a big example of a black women breaking the rules of colorism. She is everywhere, from magazines to blockbuster movies. She is dark-skinned so how’d she do it. She’s won an Academy Award and from this award she was brought to fame. But she won the award for portraying a struggling slave which is a way to be noticed by the white world.

These are the reasons African Americans are changing themselves. Black women wear colored wigs and weaves, damaging their hair and scalp from perm relaxers due to colorism. They have been brainwashed to think that having this fake hair looks attractive rather than just being themselves. African American women around the country think their skin is so ugly so they decide to bleach it to become lighter. These women are putting themselves at risk of skin cancers and other medical problems that affect them for the rest if their lives. They are being diagnosed with all these life-threatening conditions because the skin lightening soaps and creams consisted of mercury. In the past African Americans also became lighter through miscegenation. Miscegenation is when different races would interbreed to become lighter and to be accepted more from everybody. All of these example are examples of colorism and its negative impact on centuries of generations.

In America being a part of the white race is becoming less and being multiracial is expanding more everyday. But, skin color still serves as the biggest determining factor in being evaluated and judged by the world. Racism is different from colorism. Racism was created when the country was created. The light-skinned over dark-skinned phenomenon has been rooted back to colorism. Although it is more common for African Americans to experience colorism it occurs all around the world including: The Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, and so much more (Colorism in America).

A science reporter for The Washington Post researched on skin color and how even the most liberal-minded progressive thinkers still use skin as a distinctive factor in the world. He exclaimed to the New York Times in 2010, “Dozens of research studies have shown that skin tone and other racial features play powerful roles in who gets ahead and who does not. These factors regularly determine who gets hired, who gets convicted and who gets elected.”

In America it has been proven that skin tone plays a role in who gets ahead in achieving what they desire and who struggles because of their skin tone. The term colorism doesn’t exist as a real word, but researchers are now using it to research past history and its connection with the term. A 2006 University of Georgia study found that employers of any race prefer light-skinned black men to dark skinned men regardless of their qualifications. Sociologist Margaret Hunter writes in her book, Race, Gender and the Politics of Skin Tone that Mexican Americans with light skin “earn more money, complete more years of education, live in more integrated neighborhoods and have better mental health than do darker skinned Mexican Americans”

Conclusion

Overall, this paper started out explaining how African Americans have worn a so called mask to be accepted into society by the White America. But, “the mask” , to me, originally started when the white society used blackface. The decision to use blackface caused controversy and tension between the two races. The poems read in class, The Veil of Self-Consciousness and We Wear the Mask, focus on the struggles of black individuals and their declined acceptance into societies where they are forced to pretend to be someone they aren’t. But we focus on how these poems only insighted on the past with black individuals instead of focusing on where it originated and how it is still present in today’s world.

The white society originated the mask in using blackface as a performance to insult the African American culture. The origin of colorism officially started during the enslaved period. The slaves who had lighter skin would get special treatment over the darker-skinned slaves. This happened since they were preferred just because they were almost white and gave the slave owners offspring. During this time period the two different shades had many differences and disputes inside their own communities. Although the slave period has ended, these acts still exist today and it it called colorism.

Colorism is when the world prefers a type of skin color over others because it is more attractive than being darker-skinned. Most of the world forces the African American culture, especially women, to be something they aren’t just to fit in the colorism world. Black women are insecure enough to harm their skin and scalps just to feel better about themselves. The entertainment industry is the worst out of everyone. They darken the skin of people on magazines to make them look more vile and then lighten the black individuals who are trying to make a statement. The world is forcing a mask on their entire bodies just to be accepted yet again. The history of wearing a mask does still continue today.

Blackface was just the beginning of the colorism era. It has evolved from being blackface, which was when white people wore a mask to portray African Americans, to black people wearing the masks to be accepted in the society of judgement. Colorism is blindly in ur eyes everyday and we are all wearing the masks of blind people not paying attention of something that has always been lingering in front of us.

This class has brought me to the realization that every race wears a mask. Whether it’s wearing a mask to be invisible to society or forcing a mask on someone else, or wearing the mask to insult another race; it all makes up colorism as well as dates back to the beginning of the wearing of masks.