Skin Color Stratification: The Phenomenological Experiences of Black Women in America

In the United States, Blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans, and other people of color are routinely denied access to resources, education, and employment, because of racial discrimination (Monroe, 2013). Previous research has shown that the experience of colorism is pervasive within the Black community and that Black women have been culturally or personally affected by intra-racial discrimination. Several authors (Banton, 2012; Goldsmith, Hamilton, & Darity, 2014; Hunter, 2007) have found that light skinned people earn more money, complete more years of schooling, live in better neighborhoods, and marry higher-status people than darker-skinned people of the same race or ethnicity.

Colorism has a strong affect on the lives of Black women versus the lives of Black men; this has been labeled as “gendered colorism”. Wilder & Cain (2011) interviewed 26, Black women between the ages of 18-40 about the influence of family as the primary disseminators of skin tone biases. These women learned to associate blackness with negativity and lightness with ideal beauty from their grandmothers, aunts, and mothers. Regardless of the lightness or darkness of skin, the experience of colorism has affected the African American culture in some way. This study examined how skin tone effects Black women’s psychological, social, and economic outcomes.

Participants were selected from a convenience sample of Black women (N=67) between the ages of 18 and 72 years old in eastern Tennessee. All study participants completed a 9-item demographic survey. The majority of the participants 44% were single (never married); fifty-nine percent of the participants had a bachelor’s degree. The median age was < 27 years old, the annual income was $9,000 to 110, 000. There was an overrepresentation of medium complexioned participants with dark and light participants having roughly equal representation.

Participants took part in eight 1.5 hours focus groups which were audiotaped. A semi-structured interview guide containing 6 questions about skin stratification within the Black community framed the focus group. Specifically, participants were asked to reflect upon the advantages and disadvantages, discrimination, bias and other manifestations or experiences skin stratification. The researcher and three moderators independently read each audio-tape transcription, manually marking distinct comments that were felt to represent discrete thoughts or themes. These categories were used to develop a final taxonomy of four broad themes: identity; social and relational dynamics; family socialization practices; and, socioeconomic factors that impact Black womanhood and helped to sustain gendered colorism. The findings substantiate and further describe the experiences of colorism in the Black community, the psychosocial impact, and the role of family socialization practices in sustaining this unhealthy phenomenon. As a result of their experiences, participants identified areas for future interventions that target unhealthy family socialization practices and help to ameliorate stressors associated with colorism. This study has some limitations, small sample size, the sampling frame was based on a specific geographical area, and the possibility of response bias. Despite some limitations, there are several strengths, participants came from a variety of backgrounds, which helped to explore the context of skin color stratification from multiple perspectives.