Fair Women, Dark Men

by Peter Frost

Frost examines whether color prejudice or black slavery came first. Did slavery create negative feelings toward dark skin? Or was it the other way around? Frost argues that skin color had a very different meaning before slavery, as the main difference in skin color (among people of a similar ethnic background) was among men and women; women had fairer skin than men. With the rise of black slavery, the feelings rooted in this earlier meaning of skin color took on a new role.