Young Red Haired Girl With A Pale Skin On The Sandy Shore

According to classical scholar Frank Snowden, skin color did not determine social status in ancient Egypt, Greece or Rome. Relations between the major power and the subordinate state was viewed as more significant in a person's status than was their skin color.
The preferred skin tone varies by culture and has varied over time. A number of indigenous African groups, such as the Maasai, associated pale skin with being cursed or caused by evil spirits associated with witchcraft. They would abandon their children born with conditions such as albinism and showed a sexual preference for darker skin.
Many cultures have historically favored lighter skin for women. In Europe, before the Industrial Revolution, pale skin was preferred and was a sign of high social status. The poorer classes worked outdoors and got darker skin from exposure to the sun, while the upper class stayed indoors and had light skin. Light skin became associated with wealth and high position. Women even went as far as to put lead-based cosmetics on their skin to artificially whiten their skin tone. However, when not strictly monitored these cosmetics caused lead poisoning. Achieving a light-skinned appearance was brought about in many other ways, including the use of arsenic to whiten skin, and powders. Other methods included wearing full-length clothes when outdoors, including gloves and parasols.
Colonization and slavery by European countries inspired racism, led by the belief that people with dark skin were uncivilized and were to be considered inferior and subordinate to the lighter skinned invaders, which has continued to be perpetuated in modern times. During slavery, lighter-skinned African Americans were perceived as more intelligent, cooperative, and beautiful. They were more likely to work as house slaves and were also given preferential treatment by plantation owners and the overseers. For example, they had a chance to get an education while darker African Americans worked in the fields and did not get an education. The preference for fair-skin remained prominent until the end of the Victorian era, but the racial stereotypes about worth and beauty were still persistent in the last half of the 20th century and continue in present day. African American journalist Jill Nelson wrote that "to be both prettiest and black was impossible" and elaborated: