The Shades of Black Folk: Colorism Past, Present, and Future
Colorism – discrimination based on skin darkness within a racial group – has plagued Black Americans since their first arrival in this country. Although colorism has taken different forms over time, lighter-skinned Black people have always received advantages at the expense of their darker-skinned counterparts, and colorism is a problem that fosters ongoing social inequality to this day.

The Shades of Black Folk traces the development and evolution of colorism in the US from its origins in the late eighteenth century right up to the present. It chronicles the phenomenon’s various manifestations, from nineteenth-century debates about the fate of children born to parents of different races, through the contentious arguments between famed Black activists Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois, to the modern legal battles where judges struggle to adjudicate color discrimination cases. Recognizing that this issue is made more complicated by rarely being discussed in conversations about race and racial discrimination, Reece calls on readers to grapple with the complexities of color-based inequality and offers policy suggestions to tackle it.

The Shades of Black Folk sheds light on an underexamined but all-too-powerful axis of social inequality and will be necessary reading for students of race, racism, and stratification.
1147712505
The Shades of Black Folk: Colorism Past, Present, and Future
Colorism – discrimination based on skin darkness within a racial group – has plagued Black Americans since their first arrival in this country. Although colorism has taken different forms over time, lighter-skinned Black people have always received advantages at the expense of their darker-skinned counterparts, and colorism is a problem that fosters ongoing social inequality to this day.

The Shades of Black Folk traces the development and evolution of colorism in the US from its origins in the late eighteenth century right up to the present. It chronicles the phenomenon’s various manifestations, from nineteenth-century debates about the fate of children born to parents of different races, through the contentious arguments between famed Black activists Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois, to the modern legal battles where judges struggle to adjudicate color discrimination cases. Recognizing that this issue is made more complicated by rarely being discussed in conversations about race and racial discrimination, Reece calls on readers to grapple with the complexities of color-based inequality and offers policy suggestions to tackle it.

The Shades of Black Folk sheds light on an underexamined but all-too-powerful axis of social inequality and will be necessary reading for students of race, racism, and stratification.
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The Shades of Black Folk: Colorism Past, Present, and Future

The Shades of Black Folk: Colorism Past, Present, and Future

by Robert L. Reece
The Shades of Black Folk: Colorism Past, Present, and Future

The Shades of Black Folk: Colorism Past, Present, and Future

by Robert L. Reece

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$22.95 
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Overview

Colorism – discrimination based on skin darkness within a racial group – has plagued Black Americans since their first arrival in this country. Although colorism has taken different forms over time, lighter-skinned Black people have always received advantages at the expense of their darker-skinned counterparts, and colorism is a problem that fosters ongoing social inequality to this day.

The Shades of Black Folk traces the development and evolution of colorism in the US from its origins in the late eighteenth century right up to the present. It chronicles the phenomenon’s various manifestations, from nineteenth-century debates about the fate of children born to parents of different races, through the contentious arguments between famed Black activists Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois, to the modern legal battles where judges struggle to adjudicate color discrimination cases. Recognizing that this issue is made more complicated by rarely being discussed in conversations about race and racial discrimination, Reece calls on readers to grapple with the complexities of color-based inequality and offers policy suggestions to tackle it.

The Shades of Black Folk sheds light on an underexamined but all-too-powerful axis of social inequality and will be necessary reading for students of race, racism, and stratification.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781509565832
Publisher: Polity Press
Publication date: 02/02/2026
Pages: 176
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Robert Reece is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Table of Contents

PART 1
1. Introduction
2. Colorism in the US

PART 2
3. Genesis
4. Reconstruction
5. Plessy and the One-Drop Rule
6. Making Modern Colorism
PART 3

7. Modern Legal Challenges
8. Color, Race, and What’s Next

References
From the B&N Reads Blog

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