degrees and white collar jobs. They feel that these successful black men and women no longer have a connection to where they came from. This class rift is not only limited to black adults, but occurs in school age children and teenagers. Many small black children who dress well and have high grades in school are made fun of and picked on by their less fortunate peers. Black high school students who drive nice cars and live in upper-class neighborhoods are sometimes labeled as bourgeois by their peers who come from working or lower class families. The contempt that is held amongst blacks is not only based on class and education, but can be found related to color and/or skin tone. Division among light skinned and dark skinned blacks dates back to slavery. On plantations the master used these skin categories to divide the house slaves and the field slaves. Since position inside of the house were easier and more comfortable , the slaves with lighter skin were envied by their darker peers who were given difficult outside jobs in the field. After slavery ended if your skin was light it made it easier for you to mix into white society. Many parents encouraged their light skinned children, especially daughters, to attempt to pass for white. Lighter skin gave you opportunities at better jobs, slightly fairer treatment, and if your were a woman it gave you a better chance of being courted by a respectable man. Lighter skin was a luxury, such a luxury that many families only married into other fair skin families in hopes that their children and future relatives would have the privilege of light skin.In the late 1800s and early 1900s skin tone became directly related to your class level. Since lighter skinned blacks generally landed better jobs, families of lighter complexion generally had higher incomes and were seen as more successful over darker skinned blacks. On black college campuses like Hampton and Howard the lighter skinned students formed...
