Black is the color of coal, ebony, and the night sky. It is the very darkest color, the result of the absence of or complete absorption of light. It is the opposite of white.
In the Western World, it is the color most commonly associated with mourning, the end, secrets, magic, power, violence, evil, and elegance.
Read more about Black: Variations of Black, Etymology and Language, Political Movements, Selected Flags Containing Black, Religion, Sports, Black in Other Cultures, Idioms and Expressions
Famous quotes containing the word black:
“the black wings
of the
hospital where
nothing
will grow”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“Christianity as an organized religion has not always had a harmonious relationship with the family. Unlike Judaism, it kept almost no rituals that took place in private homes. The esteem that monasticism and priestly celibacy enjoyed implied a denigration of marriage and parenthood.”
—Beatrice Gottlieb, U.S. historian. The Family in the Western World from the Black Death to the Industrial Age, ch. 12, Oxford University Press (1993)
“This is the end, the redemption from Wilderness, way for the Wonderer, House sought for All, black handkerchief washed clean by weeping—page beyond Psalm—Last change of mine and Naomi—to God’s perfect Darkness— Death, stay thy phantoms!”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)