IndexIntroductionColourism in the entertainment industryColourism in magazinesConclusionIntroductionWe Wear the Mask by Paul Dunbar was primarily about wearing this "mask" to protect yourself from society's judgement. It focuses on black individuals who hide their true selves and feelings to survive and be accepted in a white society. The Veil of Self-Consciousness by WEB Dubois also had a very similar plot. It was about how the white world failed to notice who African Americans were and what their purpose was. These black individuals were also fighting within themselves because they had lost who they truly were and what they stood for due to the fact that they were only listening to how white America described them. Throughout history, African Americans have always worn a mask to protect their families and themselves. Learning this during the semester really irritated me and how some white individuals still perceive them as before in history. It led me to a question: why did white people wear a mask to perform as a person of color and why is this still in front of our faces today? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There has been a long history of portraying black people as white. The first ever example of this was blackface. Blackface dates back to the 1800s as a performance by white people. They used burnt caps or shoe polish to darken their faces and wore tattered clothing imitating enslaved African Americans. They portrayed black people as lazy, violent, ignorant, hypersexual, and so much more. The first blackface character was Jim Crow, which made headlines everywhere and influenced other places to start blackface as well. These performances became very popular at the end of the Civil War and racism became massive against the African American race when they demanded full citizenship and the right to vote. Blackface has taken many forms in the entertainment industry such as: media, makeup, costumes, and much more. Blackface is still present in media and entertainment today, as well as present in Halloween costumes. Blackface is represented differently in 2019 in the media and entertainment industry. Blackface has now transitioned to the term known as colorism. Colorism discriminates against a person based on the color of their skin, and with colorism comes many missed opportunities for those of color. Colorism can also belong to the same culture. Colorism is different from racism because racism is the belief about the racial inferiority of a particular group. Colorism is believed to only have negative implications for individuals with a darker skin tone, but light-skinned African Americans have also been victims of colorism throughout history. Hollywood films lack African American actors and actresses as lead roles. Even though African Americans are cast, the film chooses lighter-skinned individuals rather than darker-skinned individuals. Because the filmmakers made these choices to cast one over the other, they put both sides of the black community in a situation where they were put into categories. These new categories created a tension between their respective communities that is still present. Colorism in the Entertainment Industry Since darker African Americans were rarely cast in roles, they began doing things to their skin that were unnecessary. If people, especially black women, could not pass as white, they would alter their skin tone to become white. They did this by using lighter makeup to hide their darkness and also useda whitening cream to dye the skin in places that people saw. Whites and lighter skinned people stared in these Hollywood films giving rare parts to darker skinned African Americans. When Darker skinned individuals have received parts in films to portray racist stereotypes against blacks. African American audiences were tired of seeing themselves represented in such stereotypical and racist ways that they were not. African-American theater and film became enormously popular between the 1910s and 1950s. These new films were created for all blacks and usually used an all-black cast. These new films depicted black actors and actresses in a way that most African Americans could identify with. Even though many of these films were produced in the twentieth century, they were never shown on larger movie screens nor ever shown on larger screens. heterogeneous audience. Even as twentieth-century African Americans took action to change their view of themselves and provide more opportunities within their culture, colorism still exists today in the twenty-first century. The black entertainment industry, in recent years, has raised the conversation about colorism and brought it to the nation to make us more aware of this recurring problem. Colorism, once again, still occurs in our daily lives and is made right in front of our faces. But let's go back to when colorism really began with slave owners. Slave owners would have sexual relations with enslaved African American women. The result of sexual intercourse was light-skinned children. Light-skinned children would gain privileges over everyone, which would cause a lot of hatred in the enslaved community. During the period of slavery, the house Negro and the field Negro also existed. What these terms usually meant to slaves is that lighter-skinned African Americans could work in the house with the master, eat better food, and have fewer restrictions than darker-skinned African Americans. This quickly divided the entire race as tensions between families and friends grew. Shortly after the slave, the Brown Paper Bag Test was created. The Brown Paper Bag Test established privileges among those of color. If the individual's skin matched or was lighter than that of the brown paper bag, then you received privileges over those who did not meet this requirement. This test was commonly used in higher African American societies to prove whether an individual was white enough to be accepted into anything. Hundreds of black institutions, including Howard University's Phi Alpha Phi, used this test to determine whether you were eligible for their fraternity. Many churches and civic groups of this time also used this test. African Americans of the time did not understand that this tactic was color favoritism as well as a form of colorism, but the white race used it to divide and control the African American race. While blacks argued about which skin color was best, they didn't realize that they weren't solving the problem, but simply making it deeper than it was. Nowadays, lighter-skinned African Americans are more favored in the entertainment industry. Colorism existed and still exists today. My first example is colorism in movies. An example is when Zoe Saldana played Nina Simone in the biopic Nina. Throughout the film Zoe Saldana wears darker makeup and a fake nose to become her character, Nina Simone (Racism and Colorism). So why couldn't Hollywood cast someone close to her looks. In most of thefilms featuring African American women, darker skinned women are mostly portrayed as ghetto and aggressive, but lighter skinned women are beautiful and more ladylike. Pleases. Which raises the issue that lighter skin is always better. Colorism in magazinesColorism in magazines. In a L'Oreal ad, Beyoncé's skin was lightened to attract the eyes of white women. (Racism and colorism) Another example is when OJ Simpson's skin is darkened in Time magazine to look more vile than before the skin was darkened. It makes sense because darkening the skin in history meant bad for white people. But then there are exceptions to these imaginary rules. Lupita Nyong'o is a great example of a black woman breaking the rules of colorism. It's everywhere, from magazines to blockbuster movies. He has dark skin, so how did he do it? She won an Academy Award and from this award she became famous. But she won the award for playing a troubled slave, which is a way to get noticed by the white world. These are the reasons why African Americans are changing themselves. Black women wear colored wigs and weaves, damaging their hair and scalp from perm relaxers due to colorism. They are brainwashed to think that having this fake hair looks attractive rather than just being themselves. African American women across the country think their skin is so bad, so they decide to bleach it to lighten it. These women put themselves at risk for skin cancers and other medical problems that will affect them for the rest of their lives. All of these life-threatening conditions are diagnosed because the skin-lightening soaps and creams were made up of mercury. In the past, African Americans also became lighter through miscegenation. Crossbreeding is when different breeds interbreed to become lighter and more accepted by everyone. All of these examples are examples of colorism and its negative impact on centuries of generations. In America being part of the white race is becoming less and less and being multiracial is expanding more and more every day. But skin color is still the main determining factor in being valued and judged by the world. Racism is different from colorism. Racism was created when the country was created. The light-on-dark skin phenomenon has been rooted in colorism. While it is more common for African Americans to experience colorism, it occurs all over the world, including: the Caribbean, Africa, Latin America, and more (Colorism in America). A Washington Post science writer researched skin color and how even the most liberal progressive thinkers still use skin as a distinguishing factor in the world. In 2010 he exclaimed to the New York Times: “Dozens of research studies have shown that skin tone and other racial characteristics play an important role in deciding who gets ahead and who doesn't. 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 what they want and who struggles because of their skin tone. The term colorism does not exist as an actual word, but researchers are now using it to research the past history and its connection to the term. A 2006 University of Georgia study found that employers of all races 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 light-skinned Mexican Americans “earn more money, complete more. ..