Color Terminology For Race

Color Terminology For Race

In some societies and among some anthropologists, color terminology (or colour terminology) was used to label races, sometimes in addition to a non-color term for the same race. Identifying races in terms of their skin color has been common since at least the Physiognomica falsely attributed to Aristotle.

Other scientists were more cautious about such categorization, and Charles Darwin argued that the number of categories, or in this case the number of different colors, is completely arbitrary and subjective. For example, some claimed three distinct colors, some four, and others have claimed even more. In contrast, Darwin argued that there are gradations, or degrees between the numbers of categories claimed, and not distinct categories, or colors.

Read more about Color Terminology For Race:  Western Classifications, Symbolism and Uses of Color Terminology, Flag of The Races

Famous quotes containing the words color and/or race:

    Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    No race has the last word on culture and on civilization. You do not know what the black man is capable of; you do not know what he is thinking and therefore you do not know what the oppressed and suppressed Negro, by virtue of his condition and circumstance, may give to the world as a surprise.
    Marcus Garvey (1887–1940)