Color That Matters

In the United States, as in many parts of the world, people are discriminated against based on the color of their skin. This type of skin tone bias, or colorism, is both related to and distinct from discrimination on the basis of race, with which it is often conflated. Preferential treatment of lighter skin tones over darker occurs within racial and ethnic groups as well as between them. While America has made progress in issues of race over the past decades, discrimination on the basis of color continues to be a constant and often unremarked part of life. In Color Matters, Kimberly Jade Norwood has collected the most up-to-date research on this insidious form of discrimination, including perspectives from the disciplines of history, law, sociology, and psychology. Anchored with historical chapters that show how the influence and legacy of slavery have shaped the treatment of skin color in American society, the contributors to this volume bring to light the ways in which colorism affects us all--influencing what we wear, who we see on television, and even which child we might pick to adopt. Sure to be an eye-opening collection for anyone curious about how race and color continue to affect society, Color Matters provides students of race in America with wide-ranging overview of a crucial topic.

This book examines the ways in which mixed ethnic identities in Scandinavia are formed along both cultural and embodied lines, arguing that while the official discourses in the region refer to a "post-racial" or "color blind" era, color still matters in the lives of people of mixed ethnic descent. Drawing on research from people of mixed ethnic backgrounds, the author offers insights into how color matters and is made to matter and into the ways in which terms such as "ethnic" and "ethnicity" remain very much indebted to their older, racialized grammar. Color that Matters moves beyond the conventional Anglo-American focus of scholarship in this field, showing that while similarities exist between the racial and ethnic discourses of the US and UK and those found in the Nordic region, Scandinavia, and Norway in particular, manifests important differences, in part owing to a tendency to view itself as exceptional or outside the colonial heritage of race and imperialism. Presenting both a contextualization of racial discourses since World War II based on documentary analysis and new interview material with people of mixed ethnic backgrounds, the book acts as a corrective to the blind spot within Scandinavian research on ethnic minorities, offering a new reading of race for the Nordic region that engages with the idea that color has been emptied of legitimate cultural content.

This book examines the ways in which mixed ethnic identities in Scandinavia are formed along both cultural and embodied lines, arguing that while the official discourses in the region refer to a "post-racial" or "color blind" era, color still matters in the lives of people of mixed ethnic descent. Drawing on research from people of mixed ethnic backgrounds, the author offers insights into how color matters and is made to matter and into the ways in which terms such as "ethnic" and "ethnicity" remain very much indebted to their older, racialized grammar. Color that Matters moves beyond the conventional Anglo-American focus of scholarship in this field, showing that while similarities exist between the racial and ethnic discourses of the US and UK and those found in the Nordic region, Scandinavia, and Norway in particular, manifests important differences, in part owing to a tendency to view itself as exceptional or outside the colonial heritage of race and imperialism. Presenting both a contextualization of racial discourses since World War II based on documentary analysis and new interview material with people of mixed ethnic backgrounds, the book acts as a corrective to the blind spot within Scandinavian research on ethnic minorities, offering a new reading of race for the Nordic region that engages with the idea that color has been emptied of legitimate cultural content.

Shades of Difference addresses the widespread but little studied phenomenon of colorism—the preference for lighter skin and the ranking of individual worth according to skin tone. Examining the social and cultural significance of skin color in a broad range of societies and historical periods, this insightful collection looks at how skin color affects people's opportunities in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and North America. Is skin color bias distinct from racial bias? How does skin color preference relate to gender, given the association of lightness with desirability and beauty in women? The authors of this volume explore these and other questions as they take a closer look at the role Western-dominated culture and media have played in disseminating the ideal of light skin globally. With its comparative, international focus, this enlightening book will provide innovative insights and expand the dialogue around race and gender in the social sciences, ethnic studies, African American studies, and gender and women's studies.

Features a collection of resources on color, presented by J.L. Morton. Offers access to a bulletin board and discusses different aspects of color in regards to culture, physiology, technology, optics, design, history, architecture, and education.

After two evil scientists drain all the color from the town of Monroe, a spirited young girl and a group of children take matters into their own hands and repaint everything.

A child reflects on the meaning of being Black in this moving and powerful anthem about a people, a culture, a history, and a legacy that lives on. Red is a rainbow color. Green sits next to blue. Yellow, orange, violet, indigo, They are rainbow colors, too, but My color is black . . . And there’s no BLACK in rainbows. From the wheels of a bicycle to the robe on Thurgood Marshall's back, Black surrounds our lives. It is a color to simply describe some of our favorite things, but it also evokes a deeper sentiment about the incredible people who helped change the world and a community that continues to grow and thrive. Stunningly illustrated by Caldecott Honoree and Coretta Scott King Award winner Ekua Holmes, Black Is a Rainbow Color is a sweeping celebration told through debut author Angela Joy’s rhythmically captivating and unforgettable words. An ALSC Notable Children's Book 2021 An NCTE 2021 Notable Poetry Book A 2021 Notable Social Studies Trade Book of the NCSS/CBC A New York Public Library Best Book of 2020 A Washington Post Best Book of 2020 A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year A 2020 Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honoree

We are all different in some ways, yet, very similar because we all respond to emotions of love, affection, joy and sorrow. These feelings are common to all-across ethnicities, geographies and boundaries. Yet there are certain factors which contribute to our identity, which visibly make us look dissimilar, and impacts how we connect and belong. The colour of the skin, through its subtle and attached symbolism and beliefs, its presence or the lack of it, tells a story of human dynamics that is constructive and/or destructive, depending on the lens used. It has the visual power to influence, pronounce judgements, divide, confer privileges and even influence the right to love, hate, embrace, protect or kill merely based on colour-the colour of the skin. Colour Matters? explores these cross-cultural dynamics and highlights the difficulties of being a minority in different geographies. The book is replete with stories of individuals across continents and multi-ethnic, multi-professional backgrounds narrating their personal experiences and, hence, learnings from their own encounters. In a world where the race and racism debate continues to occupy a crucial space in public discourse it is worthwhile to embark on an exploratory journey to deconstruct such ideas and discover what really lies beneath.