MELLOW OR MUSTARD [YELLOW]
We people who are darker than blue
This ain’t no time for segregatin’
I’m talking ‘bout brown and yellow too
High yellow girl, can’t you tell
You’re just the surface of our dark deep well
-Curtis Mayfield 1970
- Yellow-bellied: Cowardly or lacking courage
- Yellow journalism: Sensationalized, irresponsible reporting
- Yellow streak: A tendency toward cowardice
- Mellow yellow: Relaxed and easygoing (one of the few positive yellow expressions)
- High Yellow: African-Americans of lighter complexion
COLOURISM 2025
- PREJUDICE or Discrimination against individuals with a Dark Skin Tone, typically among people of the same Ethnic or Racial Group.
- COLORISM within the Black Community has been a serious Emotional and Psychological Battle.
- Mustard Yellow is a Rich, Warm Shade of Yellow that evokes COMFORT and OPTIMISM.
The brown paper bag test was a form of COLORISM used within some Black Communities, particularly in the early to mid-20th century. It involved using a brown paper bag as a benchmark to determine who was eligible for social events, fraternities, sororities, or other organizations, with those darker than the bag often excluded. This practice reflected a preference for lighter skin tones, often associated with European features, and was a form of discrimination within the Black community.
The brown paper bag test is a stark example of how Colorism, a prejudice based on skin tone, can manifest within communities of color, perpetuating systems of Inequality and internalizing White Supremacist ideals.
My Childhood and Teen Years transpired in the progressive sixties and like many others was influenced by my Black Community ie Black Flava.
I recall how dark-skinned kids were cautioned not to wear Yellow or Red because all it did was emphasize their ‘Blackness’.
I considered this Harsh and Wrong as little Black Kids Love those colors as did I….Yellow.
My family was considered High Yellow due to their Native American Chickasaw Heritage.
My Mama discouraged that line of thinking and the Good Hair Mindset too.
‘As long as you have HAIR on your Head it’s Good Hair’ was her favorite saying.’
I recall the one and only fight I had in school was with a Fat Black Gurl who did not like me cause I had Good Hair.
On my father’s side of the family who were very dark-complexioned Colorism was in full effect. They were Color-Struck in my opinion all chose mates that were High-Yellow.
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My Uncle Troy who was my father’s twin got with a White Woman soon after his first wife died. He was the main one who supposedly Hated White Folks.
I attribute this warped thinking a side-effect of them growing in a small country town in the deep South and were the only Black Family there.
The Story Goes:
They were in town one day and some ignut-azz Cracka saw them and yelled out at the top of his lungs “Where did them God Damn Niggers come from?”
So my father’s family all started looking around and the Father said, “Where….Where?”
Lucky they didn’t get Lynched.
I myself was not swayed by the darkness or lightness of a person because my Mama instilled in me to be Proud of what ever your complexion. I considered my self Gingerbread-Brown.
But one of my Sheroes in High School was a Dark-Skinned Track Star who every one idolized. To see her compete/run was like watching a dark blur zipping away from the the pack leaving them in her smoke.
That summer I started laying out in the sun to make myself darker….all that happened was it triggered my nose-bleeds and I got a Helluva Sunburn that took some time to heal.
Mama just shook her head.
In his 1996 book The Future of the Race, Henry Louis Gates Jr., the prominent Harvard historian, described his introduction to this practice as an undergraduate student at Yale in the late 1960s.
According to Gates, “Some of the brothers who came from New Orleans held a bag party. As a classmate explained it to me, a bag party was a New Orleans custom wherein a brown paper bag was stuck on the door.
Anyone darker than the bag was denied entrance. That was one cultural legacy that would be put to rest in a hurry-we all made sure of that. But in a manner of speaking, it was replaced by an opposite test whereby those who were deemed “not black enough’ ideologically were to be shunned.
“ I was not sure this was an improvement.”
On one of our trips to New Orleans Me and Mama took a guided tour of the French Quarter.
The Black Female Guide was Articulate and Informative with a vast knowledge of New Orleans History.
Halfway through the Tour She talked about The Brown Paper Bag Test her gaze fixed on Mama who came of age in Oklahoma with the tradition.
The Guide asked Mama, “Are You familiar with this Despicable Practice M’am ?”
A pained expression shown on Mama’s pretty face.
“Yes I am…I was never a Victim but I knew folks who were subjected to it.”
“In Theory it ended…but…there are still Black People that practice it Covertly….Evil People.”
The Tour ended on a Solemn note.
