"You're Pretty For a Dark Girl": A Comparative Analysis of Light-Skin vs. Dark-Skin Subjects on the Covers of Essence Magazine 1985-2005
Color discrimination has plagued the African American community since slavery was introduced to the United States of America. This study examined Colorism, as it specifically pertains to female representation on the covers of a commercially popular African American women's magazine. Essence magazine was analyzed to determine whether there is a trend in relation to the complexion and appearance of the women on the cover of these publications. In addition to complexion, hairstyle and body shape was evaluated to assess whether Black women who look more European appear more frequently on the covers of a Black women's magazine. The argument was that this magazine has not shown numerous amounts of dark-skin African American woman. The study reviewed 60 magazine issues where women were featured on the cover during the period 1985-2005. My results have shown that the majority of the women featured are of a light complexion.
School:
Prairie View A&M University
Department:
Mass Communications
Research Advisor:
William Berry
Department of Research Advisor:
Institute of Communications Research
Year of Publication:
2007