High yellow, occasionally simply yellow (dialect: yaller, yeller), is a (sometimes derogatory) term for persons classified as black who also have a high proportion of white ancestry. It is a reference to the golden yellow skin tone of some mixed-race people. The term was in common use in the United States at the end of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century. It is reflected in such popular songs of the era as "The Yellow Rose of Texas".
Read more about High Yellow: Etymology, Skin Color, Use As Social Class Distinction, Applied To Individuals, Art and Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words high and/or yellow:
“I laugh at the lore and pride of man
At the sophist schools, and the learned clan;
For what are they all, in their high conceit,
When man in the bush with God may meet?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“O yellow eye,
let me be sick with your heat,
let me be feverish and frowning.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)