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Difference, Diversity, and the Discourse(s) of Color: Rereading Colorism in the Black Press

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Racial and Ethnic Identities in the Media

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Abstract

Colorism as a phenomenon of mostly intraracial discrimination has a long and complex history in Black America. Puff offers a unique take on the issue by examining how Ebony and Essence, two long-standing periodicals of the Black press, have dealt with skin color politics throughout time, both in their advertising and their editorial content. Placed in its appropriate historical context, a critical rereading of selected articles on colorism as well as advertisements for skin-lightening products printed in the magazines reveals persisting contradictions regarding Black beauty standards. Puff shows the extent to which light skin gets commodified and discourses of skin color are entangled with a capitalist beauty industry, even in African-American magazines that pride themselves for celebrating Black beauty in all its shades.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Simone Puff

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  1. Simone Puff
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Correspondence to Simone Puff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Davis, USA

    Eleftheria Arapoglou

  2. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Yiorgos Kalogeras

  3. University of Eastern Finland , Joensuu, Finland

    Jopi Nyman

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© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)

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Puff, S. (2016). Difference, Diversity, and the Discourse(s) of Color: Rereading Colorism in the Black Press. In: Arapoglou, E., Kalogeras, Y., Nyman, J. (eds) Racial and Ethnic Identities in the Media. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56834-2_14

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