Redbone: The Misunderstood Light Skinned Female

By D. Cleveland

REDBONE: The Misunderstood Light-Skinned Female is a book that explains the plight as well as the perceived privileges that accompany light-skinned females here in the United States. Because their skin color invokes many thoughts and emotions, they are both hated and adored at the same time.

Fairly or unfairly, light-skinned females are as

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Oct 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781643458359

Book preview

Chapter 1

What and Who Is Light-Skinned?

Whether you believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution or not, factors such as our ancestor’s living environment, the amount of sunlight available, their diet, and many more variables caused certain mutations in the human species many years ago. Bone structure, the shape of one’s nose, hair texture, and yes, skin color have been refined, modified, evolved, and developed by nature to better deal with environmental factors such as lack of or an overabundant amount of sunlight, extreme temperatures—both hot and cold, specific food sources, or the conservation of body fat or the shedding thereof. Thus, humans’ phenotypes vary depending on their ancestor’s environment and diet.

Melanin dictates the color of a person’s skin color, eye color, and hair color. The amount of melanin in human skin determines one’s complexion. The same principle applies to hair and eye color also. The lighter a person is the less amount of melanin they have, and of course, the darker a person is the more melanin they possess. The body uses melanin as a sort of natural skin protectant against the harmful rays of the sun. The less amount of protection from ultraviolet light of the sun, the more damage to the skin and usually this causes premature wrinkles, particularly later in life. Obviously, the darker-complexioned individuals do not need as much skin protection lotions as the lighter-toned people. One’s genetic makeup will determine one’s melanin content and ultimately one’s hair color, eye color, and skin color.

Humans come in many different shades of color. Through environmental factors, relocation, and mixing, the African American skin color ranges from a very dark brown to a very pale, nearly White complexion. The definition of Black American can get a bit clouded and ambiguous when the mixing of Africans, Caucasians, Native Americans, Asians, and Arabs are involved. This amalgamation of what anthropologists’ categorize as the three major races comprised of Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid have created some spectacular features that are world known in countries such as Brazil or Cape Verde whereby skin color, eye color, hair texture, hair color, eyelash length, and body structures have captured the world’s attention in mesmerizing fashion.

Let us focus on the lighter shades of brown in the United States of America. Our task is virtually impossible because the challenge is to get everyone on board as to what the term light skin really is. This way when the term is used, then we can have the same image in our minds. But unfortunately, you will find that the term light skin has many interpretations from many different people. Thus, we will find that this label is all relative. Who gets classified as light-skinned? If there are five females having lunch, and four are dark or chocolate, and another is caramel, then the caramel-colored girl can easily be perceived as being light-skinned. If the same caramel-colored female is having dinner with three pale-skinned Black females, then she would not be looked upon as light-skinned. She would be perceived as being brown. In other words, many times depending on who one is being compared with will determine whether or not one is considered light-skinned or not.

Hair color also factors into one’s perception of skin shade. Imagine that there is a set of mulatto twins with the exact same skin color. If one of the light-skinned twins has dark brown hair color as opposed to her twin with light brown hair, the twin with the darker hair will appear to have lighter skin color. The clothes that a Black person wears will also have a bearing on the perception of his or her skin color. If a fair-complexioned colored person is wearing black, then they will appear lighter in color due to the contrast between the two colors. Of course if they are wearing white or cream-colored clothing they will appear darker. It is all in the contrast of the colors involved.

Shades of a certain color can gradually darken or lighten creating different shades but appearing at first glance to the naked eye, these colors isolated by themselves can be categorized and identified as one color. For example, if you look at the colors gold, bronze, beige, tan, and khaki separately, any one of these colors can represent the entire group. However, if you line these colors up next to one another, you can determine that there are slight and distinct differences between them.

The point is, there are so many gradual changes in the entire spectrum of colors that there are literally hundreds of shades of any one color when seen in relationship with similar colors that the human eye can detect. Going from the color white to black can be covered very gradually. It is the in-between colors that can seem to be endless. So in determining a general color for light skin, there must be a cutoff.

But here in lies our dilemma. If we are to determine what or who is light skinned and what or who is not, we must first figure out where the cut-off between light brown and light skin is. Then our task is also to separate the various shades of yellow. From cream color to a dull yellow, there are hues of red in these skin colors that we might consider also.

Many would classify all who are a dirty yellow or lighter, to nearly White, as being a mulatto. Actually, the definition of mulatto is someone who has a White parent and a Black parent. If two mulattos give birth to a child, by definition that child will not be considered mulatto. Although many mulattos have light skin tone, by definition the term mulatto has absolutely nothing to do with skin color. The term mulatto has gradually given way to the terms mixed, redbone, and light skin here in the twenty-first century. And apparently, the one drop rule still applies. It dictates that if there is any trace of African blood, as in one drop found in a person’s ancestry, then the person is considered Black no matter how pale their skin is or how European their hair is. This rule was implemented to attempt to keep the White race as pure as possible, and by and large, it has proven to be successful.

Although the term mulatto was used quite frequently during slavery, the same principle doesn’t necessarily apply to the popular term redbone as it does with the term mulatto. Unlike the term mulatto, the term redbone includes any Black or mixed person with light skin color. Redbones now are mixed with many more ethnicities other than White and Black parents. The origins of the term redbone can be found in Texas and Louisiana where there was mixing of Caucasian and Afro-American parents taking place. According to Wikipedia, yellow bone is also a related term and a traditional expression. It is a person that is light enough whereas you can see the blood going through their bones (Wikipedia, n.d.).

Someone who bruises very easily (at least the results that linger a while after the fact) is someone who many of us would classify as being light-skinned. From the complexion of Cuba Gooding Jr. or lighter is what I would personally consider light skin, but that may not necessarily mean that he is your cut-off for the term light skin. Light brown and caramel color doesn’t count for light skin, or does it? We all have differing opinions of what the term light skin is. And if we are to get technical with the term light skin, then this would actually include White, Asian, Arab, or anyone else that has lighter skin tone than those with brown skin. But for the sake of this text, the term light skin will be relegated to the Black community’s terminology.

As the liberal mind-set spreads throughout the U.S., many people are exploring and sampling other races in the dating game. Presently, the mixing of African American with any other ethnic group many times can lead to what we commonly refer to as light-skinned. This mixture can include Black with Arabs, Black with Asians, Black with Latinos, Black with Native Americans, or Black with Europeans. As long as the end product is lighter than brown, one apparently can be considered light-skinned. When Blacks reproduce with Whites, depending on the complexion of the Black person involved, this can lead to the paler-skinned mulatto. Moreover, after several generations of targeting lighter-skinned people with whom to procreate with, this creates a more pronounced lighter skin color.

Most redbones are derived from this mixture within the last four or five generations. But if you are familiar with genetics, then you realize that a trait such as skin color can manifest from an ancestor that lived much further back than five generations. Either one of their grandparents, great-grandparents, or great-great-grandparents were non-Black, which could have lightened their bloodlines. When you see an offspring that is light in color and both parents are brown, then obviously the offspring’s gene for skin color came from a grandparent or a near or distant ancestor that preceded them.

Terms used to describe lighter-complexioned Black females in America include: redbone, red, fair, fair-skinned, high-yellow, yellow, yellow-bone, mulatto, mulatto-looking, mixed, mixed breed, mixed chick, biracial, multiracial, golden girl, bright, bright-skinned, light-bright, light, light chick, light-skinned, and light skin. Throughout the text, I will use several of these terms interchangeably to describe the main characters of this manuscript. I am in no way trying to degrade, belittle, or alienate anyone when one of these terms is used to describe a light-skinned person.