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:
“Sleep is when all the unsorted stuff comes flying out as from a dustbin upset in a high wind.”
—William Golding (b. 1911)
““I heard an old religious man
But yesternight declare
That he had found a text to prove
That only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)