Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Poster Presentation
Exploration of Light Skinned Privilege
Elizabeth Etta
Faculty Mentor: Jo-Ann Morgan
African American Studies
If asked to think of racism, many individuals think of intolerance towards another race.
Most individuals do not consider racism within groups. This problem has been quieted
throughout the African American community for various reasons though highly debated
among the community with the emergence of social networking websites like Blogspot
and Thoughts.com. Differences in skin tone among the African American community
has a long history of causing division between those who are lighter skinned and
perceived as more socially acceptable and their darker, allegedly less advantaged
members. There are many notions of light skinned individuals having greater access to
resources, higher likelihood of becoming famous, and many other privileges that
reportedly are not attained by darker toned individuals. Many terms have been
attributed to this issue, such as Color Complex, skin tone discrimination, and more
comically, The Huey Newton Complex.
Though race has been proven to be socially constructed, there is and has been a trend
of racial divide between light and dark skinned African American individuals. This poster
presentation will analyze and research the advantages and misconceptions associated
with light and dark skinned African Americans. I will conduct a survey regarding the
popularity of ten famous African Americans of various skin colors as well as statistical
data to reveal ongoing trends in skin color discrimination. Additionally, i will use
scholarly articles from reputable universities such as Howard and Georgetown
University to further explore the gaps in equality due to skin tone. Knowledge of this
subject has the potential to bring a race together despite years of inconspicuous
division.