colorism

noun

col·​or·​ism ˈkə-lə-ˌri-zəm 

-lər-ˌi-zəm

variants or British colourism

: prejudice or discrimination especially within a racial or ethnic group favoring people with lighter skin over those with darker skin

Under this system of colorism—the system which prevailed in my childhood in Jamaica, and which has carried over to the present—rarely will dark and light people co-mingle. Rarely will they achieve between themselves an intimacy informed with identity.

—Michelle Cliff

What writer Alice Walker defined as colorism, the preferential or prejudicial treatment of same-race people based on skin color, continues to this day. And as she once wrote, unless we exorcise it "we cannot as a people progress. For colorism, like colonialism, sexism and racism, impedes us."

—Itabari Njeri

Examples of colorism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For reasons that are rooted in colorism, many might even find tanning unfavorable. —Kyndall Cunningham, Vox, 22 June 2024

Empowering Children to Call Out Anti-Blackness Educating our children on colorism involves a few steps. —Priscilla Blossom, Parents, 29 May 2024

Wang wanted to explore class and colorism, so another of the novel’s white characters, Hilary Starr, became dark-skinned and Southeast Asian. —Margy Rochlin, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2024

This includes accusations and exchanges around serious topics: racial authenticity, domestic violence, illegitimate fatherhood, moral posturing, grooming, hypocrisy, colorism, and even colonialism. —C. Brandon Ogbunu, WIRED, 6 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

color entry 1 + -ism, after racism

First Known Use

1964, in the meaning defined above