An Examination of the Relationship Between Skin Color and Racial Identity Among African American Adults

An Examination of the Relationship Between Skin Color and Racial Identity Among African American Adults PDF Author: Reuben L. Malvin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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The Color Complex

The Color Complex PDF Author: Kathy Russell
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0385471610
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
Presents a powerful argument backed by historical fact and anecdotal evidence, that color prejudice remains a devastating divide within black America.

Skin Deep

Skin Deep PDF Author: Cedric Herring
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9781929011261
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Why do Latinos with light skin complexions earn more than those with darker complexions? Why do African American women with darker complexions take longer to get married than their lighter counterparts? Why did Michael Jackson become lighter as he became wealthier and O.J. Simpson became darker when he was accused of murder? Why is Halle Berry considered a beautiful sex symbol, while Whoopi Goldberg is not? Skin Deep provides answers to these intriguing questions. It shows that although most white Americans maintain that they do not judge others on the basis of skin color, skin tone remains a determining factor in educational attainment, occupational status, income, and other quality of life indicators. Shattering the myth of the color-blind society, Skin Deep is a revealing examination of the ways skin tone inequality operates in America. The essays in this collection-by some of the nation's leading thinkers on race and colorism-examine these phenomena, asking whether skin tone differentiation is imposed upon communities of color from the outside or is an internally-driven process aided and abetted by community members themselves. The essays also question whether the stratification process is the same for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans. Skin Deep addresses such issues as the relationship between skin tone and self esteem, marital patterns, interracial relationships, socioeconomic attainment, and family racial identity and composition. The essays in this accessible book also grapple with emerging issues such as biracialism, color-blind racism, and 21st century notions of race in the U.S. and in other countries.

Color Struck

Color Struck PDF Author: Lori Latrice Martin
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9463511105
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
Skin color and skin tone has historically played a significant role in determining the life chances of African Americans and other people of color. It has also been important to our understanding of race and the processes of racialization. But what does the relationship between skin tone and stratification outcomes mean? Is skin tone correlated with stratification outcomes because people with darker complexions experience more discrimination than those of the same race with lighter complexions? Is skin tone differentiation a process that operates external to communities of color and is then imposed on people of color? Or, is skin tone discrimination an internally driven process that is actively aided and abetted by members of communities of color themselves? Color Struck provides answers to these questions. In addition, it addresses issues such as the relationship between skin tone and wealth inequality, anti-black sentiment and whiteness, Twitter culture, marriage outcomes and attitudes, gender, racial identity, civic engagement and politics at predominately White Institutions. Color Struck can be used as required reading for courses on race, ethnicity, religious studies, history, political science, education, mass communications, African and African American Studies, social work, and sociology.

Relational Dynamics

Relational Dynamics PDF Author: DeBorah Gilbert White
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781109619379
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 131

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Social privilege connected to skin color in the United States is a legacy of the social construct of race and its derived racial hierarchy. the social meaning of White skin color, the meaning of White identity beyond skin color, and the internalization of societal and familial messages about skin color provides context for understanding lived experiences along the skin color spectrum. This research study is an exploration of the social psychological impact of skin color privilege on African-American familial relationships, particularly between mothers and adult daughters. Utilizing a phenomenological methodology, the study expands the social psychological research on Black women in general with specific focus on middle class, professional African-American women, and draws upon their racial experiences and racial identity development as descendants of Africans in the United States of America. the framework for the study's research and analysis is the cultural lenses of family, gender, and race. Through narrative, participants reflect on experiences within society and family related to racial group identity, skin color, and the meaning of both on societal and personal levels. This study was an analysis of the impact of skin color privilege, family culture, and family socialization messages related to skin color on the relational dynamics between African-American mothers and daughters. the impetus of the study was to see how skin color privilege influenced the relationships of the participants and whether the participants themselves recognized skin color as a significant factor in their lives. the literature review revealed the historical and contemporary social psychological effect of racial prejudice, racism, and skin color privilege within the larger racialized societal context and among racial groups. Reflective of the larger society, skin color symbolizes multiple meanings and matters in diverse ways among African Americans. the research findings confirm that family culture is a determinant in the development of attitudes and perceptions related to racial identity, racial preferences, skin color, and privilege. Findings suggest that African-American women have positive self-perceptions across the skin color spectrum and that generational perceptual differences exist related to race, racial group membership, and skin color.

Examining the Relationship Between Racial Identity and Positive Health Behaviors Among African American Emerging Adults

Examining the Relationship Between Racial Identity and Positive Health Behaviors Among African American Emerging Adults PDF Author: Jamilia Raki Sly
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
Racial identity is an important factor in predicting health behaviors, especially among African Americans. The history of African Americans in the United States makes racial identity an important concept to study. Racial identity can be described as the degree to which a person feels connected to or shares commonalities with an ethnic racial group (Helms, 1990). African Americans fare much worse than other racial and ethnic minorities in the United States in many areas of health. The purpose of this project was to investigate the relationship between racial identity and health behaviors of African American adults aged 18-25 years old. Two hundred African American emerging adults (18-28 years old) (50% female) were recruited from a university campus and community arts festival to participate in the study. Results yielded three distinct identity profiles (multicultural, integrationist and marginalized). Race was a defining feature of identity for the integrationist cluster. The multicultural profile embraced blending with mainstream culture and other minority groups and the marginalized profile did not identify with any group or ideology. The three profiles were assessed for differences in health behaviors (i.e. substance use, mental health, exercise, number of sexual partners). The marginalized profile displayed lower positive affect, more cigarette smoking and more sexual partners in the past year than the other two profiles. Racial identity may be one way of assessing how participants view the world. The information about why they identify with a certain racial identity profile might help researchers tailor preventive interventions to reducing health disparities. Our findings, however, have shown that racial identity alone is not sufficient in explaining how or why people choose to engage in unhealthy behaviors.

An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Skin Color on African-American Education, Income, and Occupation

An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Skin Color on African-American Education, Income, and Occupation PDF Author: Ronald E. Hall
Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
The purpose of this study is to examine the dynamics between the various skin colors of African-Americans, as pertaining to their projected aspirations for education, occupation and income.Hey Alfiee, smile so we can see you. This comment epitomizes one of my most vivid memories of childhood: riding a school bus filled with fellow cheerleaders and football players, home from an away football game late one evening. I remember immediately understanding that the joke was meant as a commentary on the darkness of my skin and the supposed stigma associated with such. I also remember how hurtful the comment was in large part because the taunt came from another African American classmate. Mine is just one example of the pain often associated with skin color in the African American community. Consequences abound for African Americans of varying hues; a phenomenon of many names including colorism, color consciousness, and colorstruck, with the unifying theme being that African Americans of varied skin tones experience widely different treatment both within and across racial groups. The following book by Dr. Ronald E. color in the African American community, which he calls The Bleaching Syndrome, using empirical evidence and critical analysis of both the historical and present-day experiences of African Americans in the areas of education, occupation, and income. His approach is innovative in both style and substance. Although other scholars have explored skin color among African Americans and its consequences in the socioeconomic strata, few have done so with the rigor included in this book. The book begins with an exploration of the genesis of skin color and education, a topic familiar to most African Americans. Succinctly stated, it should be no surprise that the origins of the disparate outcomes associated with skin color among African Americans are rooted in the practice and legacy of American slavery. Dr. Hall takes this oft-cited information and expounds on it by including an exploration of how education itself played an integral part in the stratification of African Americans vis-a-vis skin color. occupation, a topic that has been explored most notably in works by Ronald Hall [1], himself, and by Keith and Herring [2].In this section, Dr. Hall argues persuasively that an African American's skin color has profound effects on both his or her occupational aspirations and career outcomes. Given today's climate and the focus on leaving no child behind, it behooves us to attend to the multitude of ways, both overt and insidious, in which individual occupational advancement might be either hindered or advanced. The 1999 book, Our Kind of People, by Lawrence Otis Graham, explored the Black Elite, multigenerational families of African Americans with significant wealth and power. For many people outside the African American community, the mere existence of such a group came as a great shock, but I propose that for most African Americans, the existence of this group, and its high preponderance of lighter-skinned African Americans, was not shocking at all. Therein lays one premise of Dr. provides a historical view of the origins of the disparities in African American income based on skin color as well as the current day manifestations of this phenomenon. Finally, Dr. Hall provides us with a comprehensive exploration of and explanation for the many contemporary implications of skin color for African Americans, lest we be lulled into the false sense that skin color no longer matters for African Americans. As compelling as it might sound to suggest that skin color is no longer an issue for African Americans, given the increasing racial diversity of the United States, the continued diversification of the Black American community (given Caribbean and African immigration patterns) and the lessening taboo of interracial marriage leading to biracial and multiracial children, it would be irresponsible for us to conclude that skin color no longer matters in African American life. Indeed, the findings from Dr. Hall's innovative study, described in chapters six and seven, help us to understand otherwise. Further, what makes Dr. rigorous scientific evidence instead of conjecture and anecdotes. Because of his desire for scientific rigor, attention to detail and clear understanding of the historical underpinnings and contemporary corollaries of the Bleaching Syndrome (explored in chapter eight), Dr. Hall has provided us with an outstanding tome on the consequences of racial discrimination turned inward. I sincerely commend Dr. Hall for his bold foray into a controversial topic and his mastery of presenting difficult findings with compassion and aplomb.

Racial Identity and Religiosity

Racial Identity and Religiosity PDF Author: Christie Toi Spence
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 91

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Book Description
Several factors contribute to the maintenance and development of well-being. For African Americans, two major factors are religiosity and racial identity, which are often central components in the definition of self within this population. Numerous studies have supported the positive relationship between each of these factors and well-being. Fewer studies have examined the impact of both variables on well-being. This study examined the relationships between religiosity, racial identity, and well-being in African American adults between the ages of 55 and 64 years (N=350). All participants completed measures of depression, neuroticism, and extraversion. A subset of participants (N=67) completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Informants (N=300) completed measures of neuroticism and extraversion describing the participants. At the level of correlational analyses, both racial identity and religiosity were related to well-being. Higher levels of religiosity were associated with lower levels of participant- and informant-reported neuroticism, extraversion, and depression. Higher levels of racial identity were associated with lower levels of participant and informant-reported neuroticism, and depression. Neither racial identity nor religiosity was related to life satisfaction. Regression analyses predicting informant-reported neuroticism, as well as participant- and informant-reported extraversion and depression, revealed religiosity to be the stronger predictor of well-being. By entering religiosity and racial identity together in the second step of all regression models, we directly compared the contribution of each against the other. The model predicting life satisfaction was not significant. The results of this study suggest that although both racial identity and religiosity are related to well-being, religiosity is the stronger predictor of neuroticism, extraversion, and depression. Alternatively, neuroticism, extraversion, and depression are stronger predictors of religiosity than racial identity.

Black, Jewish, and Interracial

Black, Jewish, and Interracial PDF Author: Katya Gibel Mevorach
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 082238230X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
How do adult children of interracial parents—where one parent is Jewish and one is Black—think about personal identity? This question is at the heart of Katya Gibel Azoulay’s Black, Jewish, and Interracial. Motivated by her own experience as the child of a Jewish mother and Jamaican father, Gibel Azoulay blends historical, theoretical, and personal perspectives to explore the possibilities and meanings that arise when Black and Jewish identities merge. As she asks what it means to be Black, Jewish, and interracial, Gibel Azoulay challenges deeply ingrained assumptions about identity and moves toward a consideration of complementary racial identities. Beginning with an examination of the concept of identity as it figures in philosophical and political thought, Gibel Azoulay moves on to consider and compare the politics and traditions of the Black and Jewish experience in America. Her inquiry draws together such diverse subjects as Plessy v. Ferguson, the Leo Frank case, "passing," intermarriage, civil rights, and anti-Semitism. The paradoxical presence of being both Black and Jewish, she argues, leads questions of identity, identity politics, and diversity in a new direction as it challenges distinct notions of whiteness and blackness. Rising above familiar notions of identity crisis and cultural confrontation, she offers new insights into the discourse of race and multiculturalism as she suggests that identity can be a more encompassing concept than is usually thought. Gibel Azoulay adds her own personal history and interviews with eight other Black and Jewish individuals to reveal various ways in which interracial identities are being lived, experienced, and understood in contemporary America.

Meaning-Making, Internalized Racism, and African American Identity

Meaning-Making, Internalized Racism, and African American Identity PDF Author: Jas M. Sullivan
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438462972
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
Presents research on how variations in African Americans’ racial self-concept affects meaning-making and internalized oppression. Focusing on the broad range of attitudes Black people employ to make sense of their Blackness, this volume offers the latest research on racial identity. The first section explores meaning-making, or the importance of holding one type of racial-cultural identity as compared to another. It looks at a wide range of topics, including stereotypes, spirituality, appearance, gender and intersectionalities, masculinity, and more. The second section examines the different expressions of internalized racism that arise when the pressure of oppression is too great, and includes such topics as identity orientations, self-esteem, colorism, and linked fate. Grounded in psychology, the research presented here makes the case for understanding Black identity as wide ranging in content, subject to multiple interpretations, and linked to both positive mental health as well as varied forms of internalized racism. “With its impressive and varied research base, this is one of the most comprehensive books on the subject of racial identity.” — Scott L. Graves Jr., Duquesne University