Spike Lee’s 1988 film School Daze raised awareness about colorism. It’s worth taking a look at. Some of it has its origin in the practice of categorizing and pricing slaves based on their racial makeup. Mulattos was the term used for those who were half black, quadroons were one-quarter black, octoroons were one-eighth black, and hexadecaroons were one-sixteenth.

Light-skinned black people who looked more white than black were said to be “high yellow.” I was in New Orleans eight or nine years ago and was shocked to hear a young black woman say that her preference in men was those with high yellow coloring. I had never expected to hear a modern day black person use that term.