User:Jayla23/sandbox

Wikipedia Contribution Draft

Colorism is the discrimination of a person based on skin tone especially within the same ethnic group. The term was coined by Alice Walker who was an author as well as a playwright. Colorism has caused a lot of psychological and psychological damage to communities of people of color. Colorism usually happens in favor a person with lighter skin, even though they are the same race. Colorism has had an effect on the beauty standards, stereotypes, preferential treatment to those with lighter skin, and other things. This article will go into further detail about that.

Origins

Colorism are the causes for a lot of the deep rooted self hate in the black community. It was a devise used by the white colonist in order to create a division between the Africans and further the idea that being as close to white as possible was the ideal image. One of the first forms of colorism was the white slave owners deciding that only the light skinned slaves would work in the house while the darker ones were subjected to the harsh conditions of the fields. This lead to a clear division between the slaves There were tests to determine who was light enough to work in the house and sometimes get special privileges. One of these tests was the brown paper bag test . If a person's skin was darker than a brown paper bag, they were deemed too dark to work in the house. The skin tests were not just used by white people trying to differentiate between black people, but also by the black people themselves. In addition to the bag test, the comb test and the door test were also used. The comb test was used to measure the kinkiness of the persons hair. The objective was for the comb to be able to pass through the hair without stopping. The door test was very popular at some African American clubs and churches. They people in charge would paint the door a certain shade of brown, similar to the bag test, and if you were darker than the door, you were not allowed admittance into the establishment. These tests were used to measure what level of "blackness" was and was not acceptable for the world. Because the lighter slaves were allowed to work in the house, they were more likely to be educated than the darker slaves. This birthed the stereotype that dark people were stupid and ignorant.

Media

Colorism was and still is very much evident in the media. An example of this is shown in the minstrel shows that were popular during and after slavery. Minstrel shows were a very popular form of theater that involved white and black people in black face portraying black people while doing demeaning things. The actors painted their faces with black paint to and over lined their lips with bright red lipstick to exaggerate and make fun of black people. When minstrel shows died out and television became popular, black actors were rarely hired and when they were, they had very specific roles. These roles included being servants, slaves, idiots, and criminals. White people wanted to keep this narrative going that black people were forever in debt to them because they essentially rescued blacks from themselves and made them humans instead of savages. This is seen in the "mammy" role that black women often played. The highlights of this role included black women being the loyal servant to the master and taking care of and loving his kids more than her own. Even though black people were allowed to be on TV, they still couldn't be too black. They had to pass the color tests and if they were dark, they were usually playing a humiliating role. That trend is something that follows into present day especially for women. There is a huge absence of dark black women in the media and when they are shown, they are typically portraying the angry black woman stereotype but have a light skinned character to balance them out. Darker women are rarely the protagonist that isn't troubled by drugs, or caught up in the legal system. There is also a large absence of representation of dark women in the music industry. The object of affection in music videos are women who could have easily passed the paper bag test and many entertainers have gone on record saying that they don't girls who are too dark and that they only prefer light or white women.

Attraction

Colorism has made many black people rethink what they believe to be the standard of beauty. Studies have shown that due to societal influences, many people associate beauty with lighter skin. This is especially evident in children. This belief has lead many dark children to feel inadequate in who they are and inferior when compared to people with lighter skin. Colorism has also affected the way people date. studies have shown that African American women believe they would haven better luck dating if they were of lighter skin especially when dating African American men. This is because of the stereotypes that go along with being dark including having a bad attitude, and less attractive.

- I will be contributing to the Wikipedia entry " Discrimination based on skin color".

-The information already in the article briefly includes how colorism happens in Africa, Asia, the America's, and Europe. It also briefly talks about the origin of colorism and how it affects politics, media, housing, the criminal justice system, etc.

-The points I will include will include will address the colorism that goes on within the black community and the psyco- social impact that colorism has on black women including

-mate selection, self esteem, media representation, life outcomes and attractiveness

- a deeper analysis into the background of colorism and the symbolic association of words

-risk behaviors such as skin bleaching and plastic surgery

- examples of discrimination based on color within the black community from slavery to today including the brown paper bag test, the door test, and the comb test

-representation

Outline on academic article on colorism

-academic article does a study to determine if skin color and gender affects the quality of parenting a child will receive

-participants are the primary caregivers of African American children ( 713 females, 53 males) and their children ( 350 males, 417 females)

-This study measured skin tone, quality of parenting, racial discrimination, racial socialization, physical attraction, and family ses ( highest level of education)

-method: electronic self reported questionnaires asking about the things being measured and also videotaping the participants interactions and using trained coders to dissect the information

-results: - parents with darker skin promoted more mistrust of other races ( perhaps because they've experienced more discrimination in their lifetime)

-girls with darker skin received lower quality of parenting

-lighter skin females were seen as more attractive

- children that were seen as more attractive receive better quality of parenting

Sarah Baartman

Is everything in the article relevant to the article topic? Is there anything that distracted you? -Everything is relevant to the topic and there was nothing that seemed out of place or distracted me from the main purpose.

Is the article neutral? Are there any claims, or frames, that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? -This article has a pretty neutral stance and nothing seems biased.

Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? - Since the article is about Sarah Baartman, it talks about her mainly and includes people who were part of her life. It is told in third person is very narrative of her life.

Check a few citations. Do the links work? Does the source support the claims in the article? - The links do work and they support the claims that the article is making.   Is each fact referenced with an appropriate, reliable reference? Where does the information come from? Are these neutral sources? If biased, is that bias noted?  -Each fact is referenced with an appropriate source. The information comes from various books and publishing such as "Fausto-Sterling, Anne (1995). "Gender, Race, and Nation:" and Scully, Pamela and Clifton Crais (2008). "Race and erasure: Sara Baartman and Hendrik Cesars in Cape town and London." these are neutral sources that try to present as much factual evidence of her life as possible.

Is any information out of date? Is anything missing that could be added? none of the information seems out of date and I cant think of anything that could be added.   Check out the Talk page of the article. What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?  the talk sections mentions a difference in the cause of death of Sarah Baartman than said in the article. The article says that she died of an inflammatory disease however, someone in the talk section states there is evidence that she died of small pox.

How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? it is rated B-class and is apart of 3 wikiprojects

How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? we haven't discussed this topic in class at all.

colorism

I chose to do my research on colorism. Colorism is the discrimination people face based on their skin color. In certain situations, the amount of melanin a person has can affect how they are treated by people. In America, the foundations of colorism can be traced back to the slavery days in America. In those times, the brown paper bag test determined whether a slave would be in the house or in the field. If they were lighter than the bag, they would be in the house and if not, then they would be in the field. This caused a divide between the slaves because the house slaves typically were the ones who were most likely to be taught to read or write, received easier punishments and were subjected to less rigorous work. This plays into modern day society because European features such as lighter skin, slim noses, and straighter hair are seen as the epitome of beauty. The problem with this is that it leaves out the people who don't fit that standard and don't feel that they are beautiful without having to get moderations. Colorism has also played a large role in the way black people treat other blacks. The ones who are light skinned are typically held to a higher standard and seen as more beautiful because they hold more European features. In my research, I will go into depth about the psychological damage colorism has done to the black community and how it affects their everyday lives. I also plan to conduct my own experiment and analyze my findings to show how colorism affects the black community.
                                                                                                            Understanding colorism can change the way we understand human rights because even though it's a very big problem with people of color, it often goes unnoticed and not addressed. Colorism can lead a dark person to believe they are not beautiful because they don't fit societies standard and because they see no representation of themselves. When a person doesn't see themselves being represented in the media or otherwise, they might not be as confident as those who do. There is more than enough information to conduct my research paper because there are multiple accounts of colorism going back as far as slavery, to 2017.

2017.