cause of the restrictions at the universiti!
             es darker skinned blacks had to turn to the vocational schools like the Bethune- Cookman College, founded by Mary McLeod Bethune, which taught the practical, like home economics and housekeeping so that graduates could find practical work (Russell et al., p. 29). This is why historically the blacks that succeed first are fairer in complexion. For example, Frederick Douglass an inspirational orator, founder and editor of The North Star was mulatto (Russell et al., p. 29). James Augustine Healy, the country's first black bishop, was mulatto (Russell et al., p. 29). The influential and socially powerful blacks have traditionally been light skinned: Thurgood Marshall, A. Phillip Randolph, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Malcolm X, and Huey Long. Although in recent years the trend has changed, there are still an overwhelming number of more light skinned blacks than dark skinned blacks. This phenomenon has also been scrutinized through black culture specifically black literature.
             Literature, as with all art forms, is based upon and qualified by culture and society. Black or African American literature incorporates that, which (if possible) is inherent to the African American experience. Although not limited to these things, it is usually written by African Americans, so they write what they think other African Americans want to read about. In George Schuyler's Black No More, the plot is a black man has his features altered so that he looks like a white man and infiltrates a white supremacy organization. The issue that is of interest to the African American reader is the fictional and true desire of African Americans to be white. Dessa Rose by Sherley Anne Williams, is about how two women bridge the gap between classes and color. There is a subtler message in this book. That is, not only is the bridge between the white and black brought closer, but also the bridge between t...