Years ago I heard an lower-level employee grumbling about the "light-skineded" [sic] upper-level manager.
A book of local history has pictures (1940s-'50s) of a black ladies' charitable society. Almost all of the women were very, very light. Where were the medium- and dark-complected women?
That distinction had a big impact on Malcolm X; he was light-skinned and went from the top of the hierarchy to the bottom when “black power” came around in the 60s. He was practically regarded as white, and boy did he overcompensate...