Teaching and Learning Color Consciousness in Black Families: Exploring Family Processes and Women’s Experiences With Colorism

Abstract

Family is regarded as a powerful force in the lives of Black Americans. Often-times, families function as an agent of socialization that counters racism. At the same time, however, Black families can perpetuate skin tone consciousness and bias, or colorism . Although there is an extensive body of revisionist literature on Black families and a growing body of scholarship on the contemporary nature of colorism, there is a dearth of literature addressing the role of Black families in relation to colorism. This research begins to fill this gap by exploring the influence of Black families in the development and maintenance of a colorist ideology and consciousness among Black women. Results of focus group interviews with 26 Black women indicate that color differences are learned, reinforced, and in some cases contested within families, ultimately shaping Black women’s perspectives and experiences with colorism.