Black or Caramel

In her essay "Shades of Black", Mary Mebane uses her personal experiences to analyze the different divisions and classifications within the African-American race. From Mebane’s essay, it is clear to see that division and classification primarily effect black women. Mebane explains a situation in which she was in, where a light-skinned teacher called her into the office. She did this to tell Mebane that she scored the highest on the verbal section of a …

…also occupied themselves in jobs like teaching and religious activities. Some took the drastic measure of making themselves sexually available to men. They felt that this would win men who were turned off by skin color (259). I think that society would not feel it hard to believe that the whites divide and classify the black race; however, I think that many people would be surprised to learn that it goes within the African-American race itself.