Darker the Berry, Harsher the Society

Eric Beamer

Ms. Harris

ENGL2016-44378

November 10, 2022


Darker the Berry, Harsher the Society

    Throughout the course, many of the works that we read touched on the topic of colorism which is a real issue in this country. Every time one of the works touches on skin tone, especially in Homegoing, black individuals with lighter skin tones were often time treated better than those with darker skin. Many characters saw this as a sign that the closer their skin color is to their “masters,” the better treatment they would receive. Before the slave trade, many Africans didn’t have this type of ideology which could easily be connected to assimilation. Throughout the history of White American colonization, often these colonizers would erase the culture of Africans and even Native Americans. Assimilation is also one of the main things that happen throughout the works, eventually leading to the colorism that many black people experience within their community. An example of assimilation in homegoing would be when Esi spoke to Ness in Twi, resulting in her getting whipped. “Esi had spoken to Ness in Twi for most of her life until their master caught her. He’d given five lashes for each Twi word Ness spoke, and then when Ness had become too scared to speak”. Thomas Allan Stockham, Ness's master, felt as though English was the superior language, condemning any other language that wasn’t English. This showed how harsh White Americans during that time felt about anything that was connected to Afrocentrism but back to the topic at hand. 

    Throughout history, black people in America have always been put into survival mode since they were brought here. Often, white people were kinder to those of lighter skin tone or those who were “white-passing,” which made black people feel as though the lighter the skin is correct or “beautiful”. This of course of a negative effect on black people who were on the darker spectrum. The victims of colorism are mainly dark skin women, especially throughout the work homegoing. An example of this would be, “Too dark… Jazzing’s only for light girls” from homegoing. Black men during the Harlem Renaissance usually were successful regardless of skin tone, but Black women experienced the harsh effects of colorism. This, of course, made many Black women of darker skin color feel as though they are less valued in society, and the only way they can be truly successful is if their skin color is lighter. Colorism perpetuates the ideology that the closer your skin or even hair is too Eurocentric than you’re of high value and “acceptable”. Homegoing reflects this ideology perfectly since it’s part of American culture rather, people agree it is or isn’t. 

    While white people started colorism, Black people still play an active role in pushing colorism in their community. Often, light-skinned Black people would make fun of or even discriminate against other Black people if their skin color is too dark. There has also been an uptick of dark black men being discriminative towards Black women of darker skin tone, which is a real issue throughout the black community especially dating-wise. It’s important to highlight that black people are the ones that need to end this ideology and realize that regardless of the shade, black is black. Instead you’re light or dark-skinned, American society will still view you as black. It’s important that, as a community, Black people lift each other up and instead push the idea that all shades of black are capable of success or even beauty. 

Work Cited 

Gyasi, Y. (2016). Oasis Academy South Bank. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://www.oasisacademysouthbank.org/uploaded/South_Bank/Curriculum/Student_Learning/Online_Library/KS4/Homegoing_by_Yaa_Gyasi.pdf (109)

Gyasi, Y. (2016). Oasis Academy South Bank. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://www.oasisacademysouthbank.org/uploaded/South_Bank/Curriculum/Student_Learning/Online_Library/KS4/Homegoing_by_Yaa_Gyasi.pdf (77)

The Afrocentric perspective. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.cau.edu/school-of-social-work/The-Afrocentric-Perspective.html#:~:text=The%20Afrocentric%20Perspective%20is%20a,across%20people%20of%20African%20descent.

Homegoing: Part 1: Ness Summary & Analysis. LitCharts. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.litcharts.com/lit/homegoing/part-1-ness

Van Den Berghe, Pierre L. “Racialism and Assimilation in Africa and the Americas.” Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, vol. 19, no. 4, 1963, pp. 424–32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3629288. Accessed 16 Nov. 2022.


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