Maybe this is a stupid question but:how can he be white while hia parents are black ? It is not very clear in the movie . Maybe somenone who has read the book can answer this . Is somenone of his granparents white ? Is the movie a true story ?
shareFor those with skin color question about Coleman Silk. I recomende Imitation of Life (1959)
I am a lighter skin blk women and i have had friends be suprised that both my parents are blk. By my color and facial features she assumed I had a white parent.
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You have received incorrect info. He is not white, he is a very fair-skinned black male, which happens a lot more than you may know. Look at Wentworth Miller himself, the one who played Coleman as a young man. He is bi-racial, he states that his father is black and his mother is white, yet he does not look like some people think most bi-racial people look. At first glance, one automatically assumes he is "white"(it is sad that peole assume and try to place others in a box when no one ever really knows with this great mixing pot we have in this country dating back since this country was established, that goes for all races, though I will say most blacks can usually tell if there is any hint of African ancestry in a person, no matter how pale they may be). In the movie, Coleman's parents are what is referred to as "light-skinned" blacks, which if some of you are walking around blindly, those would be the African-Americans with less melanin in their skin, but they are still black for the most part. He has 2 siblings, an older brother and a younger sister, who are also "light-skinned". Just so happens he came out a lot fairer in complexion than they did. That is why his mother says, she never judged him as anything more than her "golden child". His father is not implying that he is not actually his father. His father is upset at the influence the boxing coach is having on his son which is why he says, "if you were my son..." meaning that if he were his son, he would not be listening to the coach but instead going to Howard University (a black college) and following the life his father wants for him. As far as how it can happen, there are many, many African-Americans who can have either a black & white parent, 2 bi-racial parents (no matter what %), or just 2 black parents and still come out looking "lily white" as they say in this movie. African-American's just have such a wide diversity in their genetic code, one can never call what a child may come out looking like. May sound strange to some of you who are completely clueless on the issue which I am so astounded at the ignorance that is still out there at this day & time, but it is very, very true. Ask any doctor about it. Blacks are the only race of people that can produce children with such wide variances in skin-tones, just happens that way. If you don't believe it or have trouble believing it, just open your eyes and take a look at the black families you see everyday. You would be wowed at how diverse they are. I and countless others are living proof of that. I know of mothers who had "white" looking babies and because of their darker skin-tone, people would always ask if that was their child. Sad, but it happens. Look at post-slavery years and how many prior slaves, once set free made a choice to pass as white for an easier life than to live as a freed-black slave. There are twins were one looks white and the other black but they have the same parents. Just the beauty and diversity of the African-American gene pool. So that was just an FYI for those who couldn't quite follow what was happening in the movie or were familiar with the book. Though I thought they did a pretty good job of making everything clear in the movie. Of course, nothing is ever like reading the actual book.
shareI've read in a lot of posts that people of mixed heritage can frequently have children that look little to nothing like them, but what about people don't have that kind of mixing? My sister and I are 50% Polish and then a mix of Irish and Dutch, but my sister is incredibly tan. When she was little, people assumed my parents had adopted a child from South America, whereas I'm very very very pale (I spent most of my elementary school days being called Snow White)With only the exception of skin color, we're otherwise identical in facial features and have a very strong resemblence to our father's family. I guess my question is, for caucasian people who have a mix of traditionally fair skinned heritage, how did my sister end up with such dark skin?
(Be kind about my confusion, I'm only in high school and our biology class didn't really delve into the complexities of genetics)
I just rented this movie and watched it today and i have to say i loved it. being of mixed race myself (black and puerto rican- with white ancestry on my black side and several cousins that have blond hair and seem to have no trace of black in them whatsoever) a movie like this really hit home. my black grandmother is extremely lightskinned with fine hair and by seeing pictures of her in the 1940's, she looked like a movie star and could have easily passed as white. apparently by this thread not many people knew about the idea of passing, but yes of course it happened back then. people had the oppurtunity to do it because our looks are so all over the map that it was possible. i was a little shocked that some ppl didnt get the fact that coleman was actually NOT white, but i forget that not everyone lives in the same social context. im really glad that someone posted the article about the twin girls recently. as for the previous persons questions about having fair skinned ancestry and having a fairly tan sister, my take on the whole thing is pretty much- hey, you never know. sometimes your really just dont know what your great great grandparents were doing back in the day. and even if someone claims to be completely "pure" there is still a range of color in white people. i love it actually. i personally know that given my ancestry, and depending on the complexion of the man i eventually marry, my child could end up with pretty much any complexion on the spectrum, and it will be fun to wait and see :)
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LOL... that is SO 2002.
Get over it. XD Not to rain of your little parade if you're a black man - but plenty of girls go back after going black... or going white... or going Asian... going Puerto Rican... or going anything. It's not about the race, it's about the person. Enough with the racial propaganda, it's just as racist as saying whites rule the world, for example.
Grow up.
Hey, I'm not black so take this for what it's worth.
It's not uncommon for African Americans today to have significant amounts of Caucasian genes in their genepool. One figure I recall is that a large portion of African Ameicans have upto 20% Caucasian genes.
The first input probably came through ignominious means, a la the rape of black women by white slave masters, and then perhaps also through voluntary (but still illicit, by the laws of those times) affairs between white men and black women. And at some point, I guess some black male slaves, or after the Civil War, black servants or workhands, had illicit relations with white women too. It was most likely VERY uncommon, but it might have happened nevertheless. And my guess is that the white families may have had the resulting mulatto babies given away to their black slaves/servants so the family wouldn't be publicly shamed with the revelation that their white daughter had a child with a so-called 'negro'... and this 'forced adoption' might have resulted in further input of Caucasian genes into the 'African-American genepool'. Stuff like this isn't inconceivable - for example Chinese coolies in the Boston of the late 19th century sometimes took on Irish wives, so there's a good chance that some Boston 'Southie' who thinks he's "Irish through-and-through", might be carrying some East Asian genes in his body. LOL.
Anyway - my guess is that both his parents were 'quadroons' or whatever archaic race-loaded term they used to call those blacks with significant white admixture. In the movie you could tell by how light skinned and relatively 'caucasoid' their features were - both the mother and the father - hell the whole family (Ernestine his sister might've passed as white too if she lightened and straightned her hair). I'm sure the actors who played those roles have their own personal family history we musn't disregard or disrespect, but I think that this was what the casting director was trying to achieve when he or she cased these actors - that this family was of a very, very mixed racial background to begin with (Some people in America, most whites, seem incapable of catching their own biases. Consider the fact that some people might have 90% white ancestry and are still labelled "black" because of the one-drop rule... how arbitrary is that? If that isn't part of a racist American legacy that persecuted blackness, then I don't know what is...).
And with the very mixed-blood mulatto types, it's probably not impossible that a marriage between two of them would produce a child, who for all intents and purposes, looks 'white'. The one thing that did give the character away was the actor's ever-so-slightly kinky-hair - if you're observant you will notice this in the scene when he signs up to join the Navy. The actor who plays the young professor/boxer is actually a protypical example of this - Wentworth Miller is half black and white, and he has actually discussed his personal experiences with race in interviews. One of his parents was probably a mulatto or a very very light skinned black, and the other parents Caucasian genes must have contributed more strongly to his phenotypical appearance than his black/African parent's genes.
"(Consider the fact that some people might have 90% white ancestry and are still labelled "black" because of the one-drop rule...)"
I agree that that seems very racist, if someone were for all intents and purposes mainly white but people refused to acknowledge that part of them and insisted upon them being black, then that is wrong. As would be the other way round.
I must note though, that lots of comments have been made about people with mixed race, tanned skinned parents almost being upset at being "mistaken" for white and still saying "I'm black" - surely a more accurate description would be multiracial (which to be honest we all are if you look back far enough)
I don't understand why *some* mixed race people are so keen to be of one race or the other. (which is why I respect Vin diesel for being proud of his multiracial background)
Sure I totally agree with being proud of your heritage but to ignore another half of it totally confuses me. If you are born dark skinned be proud, if you have white, olive, tan skin, be proud of that too.
My mother has dark curly hair and olive/tan skin from her father (we can't find out where his parents were from which is sad), I'm marrying a mixed race person (from just about everywhere lol, all of his grandparents married a different mix of races!) and I for one will be encouraging my kids to learn as much as they can about where *all* their genes come from.
If they are like their father and a much darker skin than me (I inherited my dad's pale skin) then I'm not going to make out they're a white person in a black person's body (mentioned earlier but the other way round). They will be my beautiful mixed race babies and I will be SO proud of them.
Sorry if I've offended anyone, you're totally entitled to consider yourself whatever race you want to, I just think sometimes people fight against racism so hard that they end up being a little bit that way themselves.
I've come across if SOME, maybe not even a really large portion of black Americans or well those whose classify as black have on avg. 15& or less white or American indian or a composite of both adding up to that amount. Most black Americans are overwhemingly black and yes some of us are unmixed black, not like some kind of a mulatto society tries to make us out to be.
What's more dangerous than sincere ignorance?
This might be a long shot, but cannot skin colour, like red hair, skip a generation? If I had a black grandmother and two white parents mightn't I be somwhat black?
Also, nobody is the exact same colour as their parents. Every person is a slight miscopy(mutation) of their parents. How else do you think white-ness got started in the first place?
~Iain
Hair colour is a bit more straightforward than skin colour, and can skip a generation. Skin colour inheritance can produce slightly darker or lighter offspring, but is generally a mix of several genes all combining to give a number of possibilities, but within certain constraints.
If you want a slightly more in depth explanation, read on. If not, click the back button :)
Hair colours skips a generation (or more) when the two copies a person has of the gene for hair colour are different, but one is dominant over the other, so the recessive copy doesnt show
i.e. one copy for ginger and one for brunette, only brunette shows.
Therefore, the only time a recessive hair colour will be displayed is when a person is born with BOTH those copies.
As we recieve one copy from the mother and one from the father, then BOTH parents would have to be carrying a recessive copy for that gene. Basically, both parents would have to have a little ginger in the family, and have it passed on.
Okay, I seriously simplified that, and look how longwinded it turned out. So Ill give a link to an in depth explanation of skin colour. (Complicated, but gives an interesting chart with which to gage the genetic effects).
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/lmexer5.htm
Its interesting that as civilised as we as a race aspire to be, how much we still judge or act in relation to appearance, even we dont intend to. Genetics shows just how little our appearance tells us about our true origin. Lol, the only way any person who could convince me that they are a true genetic descendent of any person or of the definition of any particular 'race' is if they never breeded outside there own family. Aryan master race? Lol, more like Aryan twice removed third distant cousin sub-race!
The original race is still the black race.......humans originated from Africa so any racial and genetic differences and changes in what you see in different peoples now happened later on.
What's more dangerous than sincere ignorance?
I think you should read the book...HE IS NOT WHITE...he is passing for white, he just has a light skin complexion as do his parents.
I think you should read the book...HE IS NOT WHITE...he is passing for white, he just has a light skin complexion as do his parents.
This story is based on a writer for the new york times who also passed for white around that time. this is very realistic as during that time (ever since slavery up till the 1960s) and it could still be occurring today, a lot of black people with lighter complexions have passed as white for obvious and not so obvious reasons.
Did you even watch the movie?
The movie is about a black man who pretends to be white in order to be accepted by society. He is later accused of being racist against blacks. He is falsely accused because of politically correctness.