Credit: Nadinola Bleaching (Skin Lightening) Cream Advertisement - Ebony Magazine, November, 1959
BLEACHING SYNDROME
Background
Historically, within the United States blackness has been devalued. The bleaching syndrome phenomenon within the African-American community traces back to African-American suppression during colonialism and slavery, where slave women created children who became lighter and lighter until animosity came to the fore between the field slave and the house slave. with “the continued racial discrimination and segregation during Black Reconstruction, the Jim Crow and the Civil Rights eras, and the manifestation of the contemporary discrimination faced by African-Americans driven by White racism and colorism.” The bleaching syndrome is a destructive and deep rooted issue that values lighter skin over darker skin, with the perception that the lighter your skin the prettier, smarter, and more valued you are in society. Yet, little research and discussion has been done on the images used to market skin bleaching products sold in African American and other racial and ethnic communities.
