Colorism 

BOOKS  

Memoirs/History/Biography

Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong by Georgina Lawton

Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex by Marita Golden

Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite, 1888-1920 by Willard B. Gatewood Jr.

Don't Play in the Sun: One Woman's Journey Through the Color Complex by Marita Golden 

Fiction 

Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o 

The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake 

Class Act  (New Kid, #2) by Jerry Craft

Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes 

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen Collins 

The Darkest Child by Delores Phillips 

Passing by Nella Larsen 

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Quicksand and Passing by Nella Larsen

Non-Fiction/Essays 

Colorism Essays and Poems by Sarah Webb

The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African Americans by Kathy Russell, Midge Willson and Ronald Hall 

Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone by Margaret L. Hunter

Being Biracial: Where Our Secret Worlds Collide by Sarah Ratliff 

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds

VIDEOS, MOVIES & TV SERIES 

Links to full-length film/video when possible. Trailers otherwise. Streaming options noted. 

Videos

Why People Risk Their Lives to Bleach Their Skin by Shady From Refinery29

People of Color discuss the Impact of Colorism by GMA Good Morning America 

50 Shades of Black: My Experiences with Colorism by Amaya Alien with TEDxVanderbuiltUniveristy 

Colorism by Pratyusha Pilla with TEDxSugarLand 

Beauty Brands Capitalize on Colorism - Black Girls by Oprah Winfrey Network 

How Colorism Affects People Arouns the World - Oprah's Lifeclass by Oprah Winfrey Network 

Shades of Her: Commentary on Colorism by Melanin3 Media 

The Grapevine: Ep 48- Is Bleaching an Epidemic in the Black Community? by The Grapevine

What Dark-Skinned People Will Never Tell You by Buzzfeed

India and its un-fair Beauty Standards by Anuja Premika 

Colorism in the Latinx Community by MTV Impact

Breaking Down the Anti-Blackness of Latindad by The Root 

Opinion- A Conversation With Asian Americans on Race by nytimes.com

Dramatic Feature Films/Series 

Skin - Based on a true story, a women of color is born to two South African white parents - Available for rent or with subscription to Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play

Documentaires 

A Question of Color - The first documentary to address colorism and tracks its roots to slavery - Available for rent or with subscription to Vimeo, Kanpoy

A Darker Side of Fair - Shows that origins of Fair skin in India and how it is intertwined within their culture - Available for rent or with subscription to Kanopy 

A Girl Like Me - Shows how teenage girls have had to deal with bias in skin color and hair texture in their lives so far - Available to watch on Vimeo 

Shadeism - Focuses on how colorism is a global issue - Available to watch on Vimeo 

Negro: A Docu-series about Latino Identity - Presents how Latinos do not fall into a single category - Available to watch on YouTube

Spoken: Colorism and the New Orleans Creole - A commentary on the history of colorism and how it is shown in New Orleans - Available to watch on YouTube 

ARTICLES & NOTABLE COLLECTIONS OF RESOURCES

Differences Between Racism and Colorism - The conversation starts at home - by Lori L. Tharps with Time.com

Colorism by National Conference for Community and Justice - Recourses and other information to help understand the issue of colorism

Why black people discriminate among ourselves: the toxic legacy of colorism by Kaitlyn Greenidge with The Guardian 

Marketing Still Has a Colorism Problem by Mita Mallick with Harvard Business Review 

"What's 'Colorism'?" How Would your Students Answer this Question? by David Knight from Learning for Justice 

The people fighting 'light skin' bias - BBC Future by Brishti Basu with bbc.com 

Black Lives Matter Inspires Debate Over Skin Lightening and Colorism from npr.org

"People don't even look at me" - Eight Black women discuss politics of light and dark skin by The Guardian 

Men on Colorism: A Video Series - Colorsim Healing by Colorismhealing.com

"In The Heights" is haunted by Latin America's history of colorism by Monica Callisto with npr.org 

Latinos divided: Tackling colorism, racism within the Hispanic community by abc7chicago.com

Understanding Colorism Within the Latino Community by Giselle Castro with hiplatina.com

Created by Isis Parker, Mint Museum Intern, Summer 2021