The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life

Colorism is a form of racial prejudice based on skin color that privileges individuals with lighter skin tones over those with darker skin tones. Although white people can and do engage in colorism, The Blacker the Berry depicts colorism among Black American communities. Although Thurman is interested primarily in the way that Black Americans engage in colorist discrimination and internalized ideas of perceived white “superiority,” he identifies white supremacy during the era of slavery as the root of colorism. White enslavers in the South often raped enslaved Black women, and the children born from these relations typically had lighter skin than their mothers. Emma Lou’s grandparents were the product of one such union, and rather than judging their ancestors’ enslavers for their crimes, both Emma Lou’s grandmother, Maria, and mother, Jane, see their white blood as a mark of “superiority.” Maria notes that “[i]n their veins was some of the best blood of the South. They were closely akin to the only true aristocrats in the United States” (7). Emma Lou’s family believes that their Black and white ancestry and light skin situate them closer to the upper echelons of white society than their Black peers with darker skin. The elevation of white enslavers who brutalized their ancestors points to the inherent violence of colorism; it perpetuates the same racism that undergirded chattel slavery.