Negative Effects of Racial Segregation on The Example of History

High Yellow: Conforming to Racial Construction Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968) shares the confusion of a young African American girl who struggles with understanding the construction of racial identity within the society in which she lives. The story takes place in the Delta of Mississippi during the civil rights movement, a time when people were segregated by race. Whites were seen as the superior race, and Blacks the inferior, and Blacks were employed by the Whites because they were unable to obtain decent jobs due to the segregation. Anne Moody, also known as Essie, lives with her mother and two siblings in a small shack provided to them by the white couple her mother works for. Essie’s father left to marry a light-skinned, or “high yellow” woman when the children were young. Throughout the story, Essie battles with her desire for equality and adhering to the racial construction that has been set in place by the society in which she lives. I argue that Essie’s disrespect towards “high yellow” women is a result of her resentment towards her father for leaving her mother to be with a woman of lighter color. Essie often categorizes the “high yellow” women as superior because of the lightness of their skin and their straight black hair. Essie’s impression that lighter skin is superior to darker skin demonstrates that Essie herself has conformed to the classifications of racial identity in her community. This conformity to the classification of racial identity began at an early age for Essie, long before she even recognized a difference in color.

Essie’s disrespect of light-skinned women began at a young age, when her father left her mother for a light-skinned woman, named Florence. Essie describes Florence as having yellow skin and straight black hair, unlike Mama, who has dark skin and curly hair. Anne Moody recalls, “I still remembered him rolling his dice on the floor and how he left Mama for Florence” (253). Essie displays her resentment by sharing that she still remembers her father leaving her mother for a Florence, even after many years had passed. Essie’s memory of her father leaving is traumatic for her because she did not maintain a relationship with their father after he left. Essie had even more disrespect for her father because he left the family to be with a light-skinned woman. Lighter skin holds greater meaning for Essie than just a difference in pigmentation. For her it symbolizes pain and insecurity, as well as the feeling of inadequacy. Essie and her family weren’t good enough for her father, but “high yellow” Florence was, to Essie, that’s why he left. However, Florence wasn’t the only high yellow woman that her father was intimate with. In fact, Essie’s father later remarried another light-skinned woman, whom Essie meets after having a disagreement with her stepfather at home.

Essie encounters her father’s new wife, Emma, and has pre-conceived notions based on her previous experiences with Florence, as Emma was also light skinned. Essie travels to her father’s house after many years of having no contact with him. Upon arriving to her father’s house, an unfamiliar high yellow woman, Emma, greeted Essie, proclaiming to be her father’s wife. Essie was initially angry because she thought that Emma was just like Florence, but she soon has a change of heart after spending more time with Emma. Moody states, “she was the first high yellow Negro I had seen who didn’t think or act like she was any better than darker Negroes” (255). Essie shares that many high yellow women, unlike Emma, act better than darker women. This acknowledgement of Emma being different than other high yellow women that Essie has met tells the reader that Emma is the exception to Essie. Essie still feels that high yellow women are more superior than darker women, and that they often act better, flaunting their yellow skin and straight black hair. The judgements that Essie makes against high yellow women affects the way Essie interacts with them. Essie makes judgements on women that her father chooses to marry, but this prejudice against light-skinned individuals also tarnishes her views of high yellow members of the opposite sex, as well as high yellow women that her father isn’t romantically involved with.

Essie categorizes high yellow individuals as a superior class of individuals, rather than by a physical description of the color of their skin. In addition to describing Florence and Emma has having high yellow skin, Moody writes, “I didn’t want to go out there to see her parents and relatives because I thought they were all high yellow” (258). Essie is referring to Emma’s family as being high yellow, which infers that being high yellow is a social standard, rather than describing what they look like, physically. Essie had not yet met Emma’s family, but she prematurely judged them based on her understanding of Emma, even though Emma had displayed different behaviors than other high yellow women that Essie had met. By Essie categorizing high yellow people this way, she recognizes the social construction of racial identity, and that she, too, determines an individual’s level of superiority based on the color of their skin. This categorization separates high yellow individuals from dark-skinned individuals in society, and thus enables disrespect between the two groups.

Essie’s disrespect of “high yellow” individuals goes beyond just a resentment of her father leaving her mother for a light-skinned woman; it is a disrespect for anyone lighter than she is, because she knows that she is black based on what society has shown her. Black men, like Essie’s father, leave their wives for women with lighter skin. The high yellow women have straight, black hair that makes them better than women darker than them. To the Blacks, the light-skinned individuals hold a different classification in society, one that is superior to the dark-skinned individuals. Still, why are “high yellow” women labeled as Blacks to the Whites, but are seen as Whites, and superior, to the Blacks? Social construction is based on the beliefs of each group, thus making it possible for the “high yellow” individuals to be seen differently by the different races, depending on each race’s perception of these individuals. Essie has conformed to the classifications of racial identity because of the judgements created by the society that she lives in.

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