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Colorism in the Caribbean describes discrimination based on skin tone, or colorism, in the Caribbean.
Colorism is defined as "Prejudice or discrimination against individuals based on the shade of brown skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. This discrimination can be towards both light and dark shades of brown. " [1] The coining of the term "colorism" is commonly attributed to American Alice Walker in her 1983 book In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose . [2] [3] Colorism is a global phenomenon, which affects communities of color all over the world. However, histories of slavery and colonialism have resulted in the prominence of colorism within diasporic black communities, [4] including the Caribbean, where millions of African individuals were shipped during the Atlantic slave trade. [5]
In the mid 16th century, European explorers claimed various Caribbean islands, enslaved people in Africa, and transported them to the islands where they were forced to work on sugar plantations. [6] The racially diverse environment of the Caribbean, due to slavery and colonization, led to "racial mixing" between Europeans and Africans. [7] Due to the fact that many racially mixed individuals, "mulattoes," were the children of white plantation owners, they gained privileges that their darker peers did not such as: legal status, land ownership, and education. [4] The preferential treatment mulattoes received, combined with idea of white supremacy and black inferiority promoted by colonial settlers, fostered the notion within the communities of color that lighter skin is more attractive and favorable. [4] [7]
While colorism affects all Caribbean countries, it varies from country to country. Author JeffriAnne Wilder, while conducting research for her book Color Stories: Black Women and Colorism in the 21st Century, discovered that Afro-Caribbean identifying women had a tendency to qualify their statements about colorism with respect to their home country. [8]
During the colonial era, the French established a "three tiered social structure" which put grand blancs (white elites) at the top and black slaves at the bottom. [9] In between the two groups were "freedmen," the predominantly mulatto descendants of slave owners and slaves. [9]
After the Haitian Revolution drastically altered the Haitian social structure by largely eliminating the colonial ruling class and the rest of the white population, the urban elite resided atop Haiti's social structure in the 19th century. [9] The urban elite was an exclusive group of mulattoes. One's skin complexion determined one's individual social capital, while French norms of language, manners, religion intermarriage with other mulattoes reinforced the social hierarchy. [9]
By the 21st century, the social hierarchy, which held lighter-complected individuals at the peak social power in the 19th century, morphed into a preference for lighter skin. [9] Ritualistic skin bleaching to lighten one’s skin, brown paper bag tests to verify one's skin tone, and degradation of darker-complected Haitians as ugly are contemporary manifestations of colorism in Haiti. [8]
Racism and colorism in the Dominican Republic exists due to the after-effects of African slavery and the subjugation of black people throughout history. In the Dominican Republic, "blackness" is often associated with the illegal Haitian migrants minority, who have a lower class status in the country. People who possess more African-like phenotypic features are often victims of discrimination, and are seen as foreigners. [10] An envoy of the UN in October 2007 found that there was racism against black people in general, and particularly against Haitians.
The Dominican Republic has a right of blood law, which bases nationality on ancestral lineage rather than land of birth. The country has a large population of Haitian migrant descendants who are not seen as citizens, and are considered "stateless" by many human-rights organizations. A 2013 study concluded that Dominican Republic was the second most xenophobic country in the Americas. [11] When individuals in the country were asked who they wouldn't want as neighbors, 15-20% responded those of "another race". [11]
The Dominican Republic, like most countries in Latin America that were colonized by Europeans, shows a strong correlation between race and wealth. The upper and upper-middle classes of the Dominican Republic are overwhelmingly of European origin. [12] [13] The middle class is the class with the broadest colour spectrum [14] and is composed mostly of mixed race individuals of varying skintones, [13] while the lower working-class is darker. The underclass is predominantly black, with many being of Haitian migrant background. [13]
People of predominant European ancestry in Dominican Republic have an economic and social privilege, and have strong representation in politics, business and the media, while those of African ancestry are in the lowest strata of society. Thus in the country whiteness is often associated with wealth, intelligence, beauty, and cleanliness, while blackness is associated with poverty, lower education, unattractive features, and uncleanliness. [14]
Due to the influence of European colonization and the propagation of Africans or "darker people" as inferior, being of African ancestry is often not desired or acknowledged in the Dominican Republic. The mixed-race population generally identify as "Mestizo" or "Indio" rather than Mulatto, preferring to acknowledge only their European and Indigenous heritage, while those with darker skin and other traits associated with 'Blackness' face rejection and social exclusion. [15] In Latin America, there is more flexibility in how people racially categorize themselves: they identify themselves mostly based on skin color and facial features and not so much their ancestry, allowing for more "racial fluidity." [16] For example, a person who has some degree of Black ancestry can identify as non-Black if they can 'pass' as such.
Socioeconomic status also heavily influence race classification in Latin America and tends to be correlated with whiteness. In the Dominican Republic, those of higher social status tend to be predominately of a lighter color tone as are often labeled as 'blanco/a', 'trigueño/a', or 'indio/a', while poorer people tend to be 'moreno/a', 'negro/a, or 'prieto/a', the latter category being heavily associated with Haitian migrants. [16]
In 1655, English military leader, Oliver Cromwell captured Jamaica from Spain [17] Although a few Black slaves had been brought into Jamaica while the island was under Spanish rule, after the conquest the island was fully converted into a plantation economy, contributing to 97% of the population being of total or partial African descent. [17] Jamaican slavery was accompanied by a social hierarchy, placing whites at the top, mixed people of color with “limited privileges” next, and black slaves at the bottom. [18] The racial hierarchy largely stemmed from sex between white men and African women. [19] There were different names for different combinations of racial mixing. [20] Mulatto was the offspring of a white man and black woman; the child of a mulatto and a black, a Sambo. [21] The child of a white and a mulatto was a quadroon; the combination of quadroon and a white was a mustee. [21] The child of a mustee by a white man was known as a musteefino. [21] While the children of a musteefino are free by law, and rank as white persons to all intents and purposes. [21]
The social stratification of Blacks by skin tone influences Jamaica’s social structure even after the abolition of slavery in Jamaica in 1833. [22] Colorism in Jamaica was perpetuated through social and cultural institutions such as music, social games, sports, and school [23] For example, in one particular school-yard game, Jamaican children have been heard chanting "Brown girl in the ring." According to Dr. Petra Robinson, in her dissertation, the game promotes a preference for 'brown-skinned girls' over dark-skinned ones. [23] Contemporarily, many Jamaicans have used the phrase, "When your black turns brown, stick around. When you're white, it's alright." [24]
In Jamaica, colorism is a major issue throughout the community. The majority of Jamaican women find that the lighter they are the more socially accepted they will be. Most Jamaican women believe that the color of their skin is the deciding factor in their finding a job or even a husband. [25]
In 1926, Guyanese author and Harlem Renaissance author Eric Waldron penned the composition novel, Tropic Death. The ten stories which make up the novel explore Caribbean identity and location. Throughout the novel, namely in stories such as “the Yellow One,” and “White Snake,” Waldron represents and explores what colorism looks like in various Caribbean countries. Tropic Death is widely recognized as one of the first and most popular literary work of and on the Caribbean. [26]
In 1953, Barbadian writer George Lamming published In the Castle of My Skin , his first acclaimed novel. The story is set in the colonial Caribbean, and explores ideologies of racism, colorism, and miseducation. [27] Lamming stated that in his work, he aimed to capture the oppressive experience of the "terror of the mind; a daily exercise in self-mutilation. Black versus black in a battle for self-improvement. [28]
The Guyanese author Edgar Mittelholzer described the effects of colorism on his own life in his memoir, A Swarthy Boy. [29]
On Télévision Nationale d'Haïti (TNH or the Haitian National Television Network), cultural color stereotypes like “Zuzu girl” on the pop-culture comedy show Regards Croisés and other fictional representatives of the Haitian elite and other recognizable stereotypes have been featured. [30]
In Jamaica, Reggae music has often been used to protests against skin whitening and colorism in Jamaica. Many reggae artists have been strong proponents of the Black is Beautiful campaign which started in the 1970s. [31]
Popular Jamaican dancehall artist, Vybz Kartel, fielded accusations of skin whitening in 2011, when people noticed his lighten complexion. [32] In response to the allegations, Kartel stated "When black women stop straightening their hair and wearing wigs and weaves... then I’ll stop using the ‘cakesoap’ and we’ll all live naturally ever after." [33] Following these comments, Kartel announced the launching of his own cosmetic line which featured skin bleaching products. [33]
Spice, a Jamaican dancehall artist, released this song in 2018. "Black Hypocrisy" addresses colorism, a social issue where individuals are treated differently based on the shade of their skin, often favoring lighter skin tones over darker ones. [34]
In the song, Spice reflects on her own experiences with colorism and societal expectations related to skin color. She criticizes the pressure to conform to certain beauty standards and challenges the notion that lighter skin is more socially acceptable. The music video for the song features a powerful visual transformation, where Spice appears to lighten her skin, serving as a commentary on the pressures individuals face to conform to specific beauty ideals. [35]
"Black Hypocrisy" received attention for its bold and thought-provoking take on colorism within the context of the dancehall music genre. It sparked conversations about beauty standards and the impact of colorism on individuals, particularly within the Caribbean and broader global contexts. [35]
The social media campaign, #UnfairandLovely, aims to combat global colorism by "highlight[ing] the beauty of dark-skinned people of color, who are routinely under-represented in the media around the world." [36] The campaign satirizes the name of the skin whitening cream, "Fair and Lovely ." [36]
Skin Bleaching is the process of using cosmetic, homemade or dermatological concoctions for the purpose of lightening one’s skin. [27] Skin bleaching has global commercial appeal as seen by the sale of products such as: “Skin So White,” “White Perfect,” and “White and Lovely.” [37] These products are mostly sold outside the US, in places like the Caribbean, African countries, India, and others. [37] Many scholars theorize that the phenomenon known as, Skin bleaching, is a product of the preference for lighter skin in communities of color. [38] [39] Some studies show that because, since slavery lighter skin has been treated more favorably than dark skin in colonized communities, people of color have been motivated to bleach their skin. [38]
Skin bleaching, according to some medical research, causes fragile skin, bad scarring, poor wound healing and possibly cancer. [40] For this reason, countries in which bleaching is popular have attempted various means to cease the use of bleaching creams and other products. [40] [36] Jamaica, banned several bleaching creams, dolled out fines for their usage, and ran a campaign "Don't Kill the Skin," where police raided various vendors of bleaching products. [40] However, as skin bleaching products are easily homemade, bleaching prevailed the government's attempts. [40]
The skin bleaching epidemic is growing like wildfire especially in Jamaica. Those who bleach often are called, "Bleachers. [25] " It occurs so much because, darker Jamaican women want to feel "beautiful," and wanted; not only by a significant other but by the workforce.[21] There is a documentary called, "Skin Bleaching in Jamaica June 2013," in this video journalist went around Jamaica interviewing different women, asking them why they bleached and about who its harming their bodies. One lady said, "When you're black nobody sees you, when you're brown then they will see you." [41] With colorism, the practice of skin bleaching in Jamaica has been linked to colorism, a form of discrimination based on skin color. According to a Jamaican government survey from 2017, about 300,000 people in the country of 2.8 million bleach their skin. [42]
Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in socially based systems of racial classification in the Western world, the term "black" is used to describe persons who are perceived as dark-skinned compared to other populations. It is most commonly used for people of sub-Saharan African ancestry, Indigenous Australians and Melanesians, though it has been applied in many contexts to other groups, and is no indicator of any close ancestral relationship whatsoever. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures.
Creole peoples may refer to various ethnic groups around the world. The term's meaning exhibits regional variations, often sparking debate.
Mulatto is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in some countries and languages, such as English with the exceptions of some Anglophone Caribbean or West Indian countries and Dutch, but it does not have the same associations in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese. Among Latin Americans in the US, for instance, the term can be a source of pride. A mulatta is a female mulatto.
In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who were primarily of black African descent with little mixture. They were a distinct group of free people of color in the French colonies, including Louisiana and in settlements on Caribbean islands, such as Saint-Domingue (Haiti), St. Lucia, Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. In these territories and major cities, particularly New Orleans, and those cities held by the Spanish, a substantial third class of primarily mixed-race, free people developed. These colonial societies classified mixed-race people in a variety of ways, generally related to visible features and to the proportion of African ancestry. Racial classifications were numerous in Latin America.
Afro–Latin Americans or Black Latin Americans are Latin Americans of full or mainly sub-Saharan African ancestry.
The Haitian Revolution was a successful insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti.
Benoit Joseph André Rigaud was the leading mulatto military leader during the Haitian Revolution. Among his protégés were Alexandre Pétion and Jean-Pierre Boyer, both future presidents of Haïti.
High yellow, occasionally simply yellow, is a term used to describe a light-skinned person of white and black ancestry. It is also used as a slang for those thought to have "yellow undertones". The term was in common use in the United States at the end of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century, and is reflected in such popular songs of the era as "The Yellow Rose of Texas".
Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the trans-Atlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries to work primarily on various sugar plantations and in domestic households. Other names for the ethnic group include Black Caribbean, Afro or Black West Indian or Afro or Black Antillean. The term Afro-Caribbean was not coined by Caribbean people themselves but was first used by European Americans in the late 1960s.
Afro-Dominicans are Dominicans of predominant or full Black African ancestry. Approximately 1.8 million people in the Dominican Republic are of African descent, a minority in the country representing 13.5%% of the population, according to a census bureau survey in 2022.
The Black elite is any elite, either political or economic in nature, that is made up of people who are of Black African descent. In the Western World, it is typically distinct from other national elites, such as the United Kingdom's aristocracy and the United States' upper class.
Slavery in Brazil began long before the first Portuguese settlement. Later, colonists were heavily dependent on indigenous labor during the initial phases of settlement to maintain the subsistence economy, and natives were often captured by expeditions of bandeirantes. The importation of African slaves began midway through the 16th century, but the enslavement of indigenous peoples continued well into the 17th and 18th centuries. Europeans and Chinese were also enslaved.
Black Hispanic and Latino Americans, also called Afro-Hispanics, Afro-Latinos, Black Hispanics, or Black Latinos, are classified by the United States Census Bureau, Office of Management and Budget, and other U.S. government agencies as Black people living in the United States with ancestry in Latin America, Spain or Portugal and/or who speak Spanish, and/or Portuguese as either their first language or second language.
Afro-Mexicans, also known as Black Mexicans, are Mexicans who have heritage from sub-Saharan Africa and identify as such. As a single population, Afro-Mexicans include individuals descended from both free and enslaved Africans who arrived to Mexico during the colonial era, as well as post-independence migrants. This population includes Afro-descended people from neighboring English, French, and Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean and Central America, descendants of enslaved Africans in Mexico and those from the Deep South during Slavery in the United States, and to a lesser extent recent migrants directly from Africa. Today, there are localized communities in Mexico with significant although not predominant African ancestry. These are mostly concentrated in specific communities, including the populations of the Oaxaca, Huetamo, Lázaro Cárdenas, Guerrero, and Veracruz states.
Afro-Haitians or Black Haitians are Haitians who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. They form the largest racial group in Haiti and together with other Afro-Caribbean groups, the largest racial group in the region.
White Dominicans are Dominican people of predominant or full European descent. They are 17.8% of the Dominican Republic's population, according to a 2021 survey by the United Nations Population Fund. The majority of white Dominicans have ancestry from the first European settlers to arrive in Hispaniola in 1492 and are descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese who settled in the island during colonial times, as well as the French who settled in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many whites in the Dominican Republic also descend from Italians, Dutchmen, Germans, Hungarians, Scandinavians, Americans and other nationalities who have migrated between the 19th and 20th centuries. About 9.2% of the Dominican population claims a European immigrant background, according to the 2021 Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas survey.
White Haitians, are Haitians of predominant or full European. There were approximately 20,000 whites around the Haitian Revolution, mainly French, in Saint-Domingue. They were divided into two main groups: The Planters and Petit Blancs. The first Europeans to settle in Haiti were the Spanish. The Spanish enslaved the indigenous Haitians to work on sugar plantations and in gold mines. European diseases such as measles and smallpox killed all but a few thousand of the indigenous Haitians. Many other indigenous Haitians died from overwork and harsh treatment in the mines from slavery. Many Europeans who settled in Haiti were killed or fled during the Haitian Revolution.
Racism in the Dominican Republic exists due to the after-effects of African slavery and the subjugation of black people throughout history. In the Dominican Republic, "blackness" is often associated with Haitian migrants and a lower class status. Those who possess more African-like phenotypic features are often victims of discrimination, and are seen as foreigners.
The city of Baltimore, Maryland includes a large and growing Caribbean-American population. The Caribbean-American community is centered in West Baltimore. The largest non-Hispanic Caribbean populations in Baltimore are Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Tobagonians, and Haitians. Baltimore also has significant Hispanic populations from the Spanish West Indies, particularly Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans. Northwest Baltimore is the center of the West Indian population of Baltimore, while Caribbean Hispanics in the city tend to live among other Latinos in neighborhoods such as Greektown, Upper Fell's Point, and Highlandtown. Jamaicans and Trinidadians are the first and second largest West Indian groups in the city, respectively. The neighborhoods of Park Heights and Pimlico in northwest Baltimore are home to large West Indian populations, particularly Jamaican-Americans.
Mixed Dominicans, also referred to as mulatto, mestizo or historically quadroon, are Dominicans who are of mixed racial ancestry. Representing 73.9% of the Dominican Republic's population, they are by far the single largest racial grouping of the country.
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