Light-skinned African Americans still dominate Black educational attainment

Evidence

Today, lighter skinned African Americans remain overrepresented in the numbers of blacks who have attended college, attained professional status, and so forth (Russell et al., 1992). In my own maternal family’s case, I am a third generation college graduate in part because of the actions taken by my maternal great-great-grandfather, Confederate General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, who apparently set his quadroon daughter Susan on the path of higher education. Internationally, I believe my skin tone has contributed to my warm acceptance in many countries. “You look just like my sister, mother, or aunt,” I am often told. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1174

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to colorism research and to the author’s own genealogical twist involving a Confederate general as ancestor.