Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Heidt, Stephen

Abstract

This study analyzes various forms of visual and textual rhetoric found in popular black-owned print media from 1900-1970, including: beauty product advertisements, magazine cover photography and feature articles in order to contribute to a rhetorical history of color bias within the African-American community. The imagery included here validated and encouraged the transformation and lightening of African-American bodies through what I call embodied mimicry in order to achieve dominance within the racial group and a semblance of acceptance outside of it. Mimicry of white societal standards by African-Americans including: formatting of print media, circulation of beauty ads and physical embodiment of white physical features ultimately re-inscribed the tenets of racism into the black public sphere in the form of colorism. The intention of this research is to analyze the rhetorical history of colorism in order to better understand the current state of colorism in American society.

Extent

89 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00004719

Format

pdf

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