THE COLOR OF SKIN:
INTRA-RACIAL PREJUDICE IN THE 
HARLEM RENAISSANCE

by

Catrin Collath

2002

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction

THERE! That′s the kind I′ve been wanting
to show you! One of the best
examples of the specie. Not like
those diluted Negroes you see so much of on
the streets these days, but the
real thing.
Black, ugly, and odd. You
can see the savagery. The blunt
blankness. That is the real
thing. (Gwendolyn Brooks)¹

It is not only Lincoln in Gwendolyn Brooks′s poem (1970) who is regarded as ugly because of his pronounced black features. In Wallace Thurman′s novel The Blacker the Berry the protagonist also experiences different forms of intra-racial prejudice. Like Lincoln, Emma Lou is regarded as "the real thing [-] black, ugly and odd."² This is at least how she feels and how she sees herself, always observing herself through the eyes of others. To give a brief introduction to the topic of intra-racial prejudice, Brooks′s poem was chosen to support the fact that people are prejudiced against other people; even though they belong to the same race. Although the utterance about Lincoln is made by a white man in a movie theater, it cannot be denied that those racist remarks also occur among people who are perceived to belong to one and the same race. Either way, Lincoln is regarded as being the ugliest boy that everyone ever saw. And this is exactly how Emma Lou feels. She supports the misconception of the white man at the movie theater and of society′s stereotypes that dark-skinned blacks do not know as much as light-skinned blacks and therefore are considered to be inferior. The author already makes a distinction between dark-skinned African Americans and not that dark-skinned African Americans when he compares the "real thing" black person with "those diluted Negroes you see so much of on the streets these days". With this phrase she covers one of the major topics in Wallace Thurman′s novel which is about prejudice within one race. The protagonist is always aware of her color which is a result of her sstruggle with the society and herself and it will be described on several examples in the novel. Further, the protagonist′s social standing and her long way to an agreeable attitude in life will be presented in order to show the protagonist′s consciousness of other people′s complexion for she herself is troubled by the obvious presence of her dark pigmentation. As a last point, the time, in which the novel was published, will be compared to the protagonist′s attitude and it will be questioned if the novel supports the main goals of the progressive movement of that time.

It is important, however, to state some major definitions before going into detail of the analysis. Since the term `African American′ is considered to be the most appropriate, it is used in this paper. For the purpose of avoiding too many repetitions distinctions between the terms `African Americans′ or `Blacks′ will not be made. Further, as there do not only exist the two races black and white, it is important, however, to state that there is much of a diversity within these groups as well. To describe the variations within the black race for example, it was not only Thurman who used every known adjective to distinguish between the different shades of skin by using expressions like "high yaller, yaller nigger, blue veins, half white, dictys, mulattoes, high brown, etc."³ Not attempting to downplay the diversity of skin color and other physical appearances within the different races, in this paper there will be only put emphasis on the different shades of skin color within the group of African Americans. Since the novel′s central character is a dark-skinned girl, in many cases the point of view of this character will be taken over. All the color questions and struggle will find their origin in the protagonist′s mind.

2. Prejudice – newly defined

Why do people have prejudice against people perceived to belong to other races? Many believe that a difference in physical appearance has something to do with differences in behavior, attitude, intelligence, or intrinsic worth of people.

[...]

1 http://www2.gasou.edu.

2 Ibid.

3 Thurman, Wallace, The Blacker the Berry, The X Press (London, 1997).