Kamala Harris & The Brown Paper Bag Test
Why the Overwhelming Majority of “Successful” Blacks Tend to be “Light-Skinned”
The “Brown Paper Bag Test” is a term which describes a practice long used by black American people which ranks and classifies “certain” black people as to their social, political, economic, and cultural worthiness. The test determined one’s “right” to partake of and participate in nearly every aspect of life within African American communities and organizations.
There exists, still, a complete oral history which describes this colorist discriminatory practice from the earliest days of enslavement right down to and including the 20th century.
The idea is that an individual’s skin tone and complexion is compared to the color of an ordinary brown paper bag. The test determines what privileges an individual could have. Only those with skin color that matched or was demonstrably lighter than a brown paper bag were allowed admission or membership privileges.
This test was used in the 20th century by many black social institutions, including, especially, black fraternities and sororities, and social clubs. Indeed, in 1966, I was a freshman on Indiana University’s flagship campus in Bloomington. I pledged one of America’s oldest black fraternities, Kappa Alpha Psi. In fact…
