Abstract
This chapter investigates how colorism has troubled the star narratives of three of the biggest global celebrities of African descent: Oscar-winning actress Lupita Amondi Nyong’o, pop icon and beauty/fashion mogul Robin Rihanna Fenty, and tennis legend Serena Jameka Williams. In examining colorism in contemporary, American celebrity visual culture, as contextualized through the stardom of these three women, insights into how colorism coronates which Black female celebrities are seen as the most authentic, the most commercial, and the most valuable in the star system can be gleaned. Furthermore, this chapter explores how colorism functions for Black people working in predominantly “white spaces” (Anderson 2015, pp. 10–21) and the specific ways colorism exacerbates the gender gap (Reece 2020). This chapter pairs with Chapter 9, both working to elucidate a lengthy and layered history (Reece 2018, pp. 3–21), with the support of literary and visual texts, into how skin color has worked to determine the success, or lack thereof, of people of African descent, especially women. Chapter 9 offers historical context for colorism through literary analysis, while this chapter examines the contemporary consequences of colorism on women of African descent with an emphasis on beauty, professional opportunities, and visibility in predominantly white spaces.
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Notes
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Dr. Meredith D. Clark, a professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, defines “Black Twitter,” in an interview with the University of Virginia Daily, as “…a network of culturally connected communicators using the platform to draw attention to issues of concern to black communities. It’s the culture that we grew up with. It’s the culture that we experienced in our lives and school, in the workplace, with entertainment—and you see conversations coalesce around specific cultural moments. I always explain to people that Black Twitter doesn’t have a gateway, a secret knock. It’s not a separate platform. It’s all in the way that people use the platform to draw attention to issues of concern to black communities…It’s just realizing that blackness is at the center of what’s happening with these interactions and being OK with that.” https://news.virginia.edu/content/black-twitter-101-what-it-where-did-it-originate-where-it-headed.
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Gumbo is a native dish of Southern Louisiana, USA; it is a combination of influences born from West African, French, Spanish, and Native American cultures and usually includes chicken, sausage and/or seafood stew over a bed of rice. A brief history of the dish may be found here: https://www.eater.com/2020/1/13/21056973/where-did-gumbo-originate-dish-history-new-orleans.
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In 2018, two African-American men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks for sitting down and not ordering anything after a Starbucks employee deemed them suspicious. This is just one of many instances where Black bodies entering into white spaces and are immediately challenged. See the following for more information about this specific incident: https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/4/14/17238494/what-happened-at-starbucks-black-men-arrested-philadelphia.
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OWN is an acronym for Oprah Winfrey’s company, which stands for Oprah Winfrey Network. See: https://www.youtube.com/user/OWN.
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Lupita was born in Mexico but is of Kenyan ancestry. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2014/03/lupita-nyongo-ended-kenya-and-mexicos-mini-feud-over-her-nationality/358766/.
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National Public Radio or NPR is a non-profit media organization that produces cultural and news programming. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. https://www.npr.org/.
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Young, C.C. (2021). Color Me Color Struck: Colorism in Popular Culture Vis À Vis the Visual Canon of Lupita Nyong’o, Robin Rihanna Fenty, and Serena Williams. In: Fitzgerald, A. (eds) Women’s Lived Experiences of the Gender Gap. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1174-2_8
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