The Importance Of Slaves In Uncle Tom's Cabin

Humans have always found those who have higher social status to be more attractive, and for all of America 's history those who had lighter skin have had a much higher social status than those with darker skin. For more than two centuries, African slaves were not even considered human beings, then for several years after that they were humans with no basic rights. For a long time many businesses, schools, and jobs were white only, however a few African Americans who had lighter skin tones could pass for being white and were allowed into these businesses without a second thought. Over time this meant that the ideal beauty standard for African Americans was to try their best to appear as white as possible, by straightening their hair, and using

You understand - you 've got to be as I say.” During slavery, this idea was instilled in most, if not all slaves, causing society, and individuals, to subconsciously believe that white people were significantly better than black people, and that in order to be beautiful, smart, or useful, being white was a necessity. In an excerpt from 12 Years A Slave, we see that African Americans lives were not valued. The narrator describes a very violent punishment the slave master ordered him to give to another slave, who did not follow orders, the woman almost dies from the lashes, but the master did not care. The only reason she survived is because her fellow slaves helped her heal. This disregard for the slaves’ lives caused many people to devalue their skin color and believe that it made them ugly, sometimes even useless. It left a lasting effect on our culture and caused our society today to still act like African American people, especially those dark skin, are less beautiful, smart, and productive than everyone

In the documentary, Dark Girls, many African American women shared that they have been made fun of for their color by people of their own race from a very young age. This ranged from being told by their parents to stay out of the sun to avoid their skin becoming darker, to being called ugly by other children because of their dark complexion. Many of these women expressed that they believed if there was representation in the media of intelligent, beautiful, dark skinned women less people would make fun of them for their skin tone, and they would feel less insecure about their skin. According to Dissolve online magazine, in 2012 African American actors and actresses only made up 10.8% of speaking characters and the top 100 highest grossing films. This major underrepresentation of African Americans in the media makes it hard for them to feel like a part of American society, and makes it more difficult for them to feel smart and beautiful because they have no positive role models like