Colorism is a form of racism that specifically creates inequity between light- and dark-skinned people. Kendi points out that this is common within various racial and ethnic groups all over the world, but he focuses on inequities between light-skinned and dark-skinned Black people in the United States.
Get the entire How to Be an Antiracist LitChart as a printable PDF.
Colorism Term Timeline in How to Be an Antiracist
The timeline below shows where the term Colorism appears in How to Be an Antiracist. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9: Color
Colorism is a set of policies and supporting ideas that sustain inequities between light-skinned and dark-skinned...
(full context)
...but his colored contacts were a way to look less Black and closer to the colorist “post-racial beauty ideal” of lightness, which has been called “white beauty repackaged with dark hair.”
(full context)
...also encompasses kinkier hair textures and larger facial features. Although inequity across color lines (or colorism) is often forgotten, antiracists must recognize and address it. There are clear disparities between light...
(full context)
...girlfriend was light-skinned, and her dark-skinned roommate got no attention from men. Over time, this colorism bothered Kendi so much that he broke up with his girlfriend, started only dating dark-skinned...
(full context)
Colorism has a long history: enslaved light-skinned people were generally assigned to less physically demanding roles...
(full context)
