The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-11-06
BLACK SKINS MADE WHITE.
OF COURSE IT CAN'T BE DONE, nut
MANY NEGROES THINK 1T CAM

| StrntEhfeutnE the Hair In Grcnt Demand
In the CarIbb"rs-Ncw York's Bleach.
Ing" and Anti-kirk establishments.
1T was an odd thing" said contractor. re-
Gently returned from the West Indies that
after watching a peculiar form OF confidence
game practsed uron the negroes OF the Carib-
hean Islands. and studying it with some profit
and great deal OF amusement for six months.
i should run across almost the same thing
! here In New York soon IA I returned.
Il have been building several piers and n
short tramwav' lie continued. "on the island
| OF 81. Lucia. where. as you know. the British
| Government is concentrating it's West Indian
forces. building forts and backwards. and
making great deal of work. st. Lucia is
thinly populated and colorcd laborers have
| been brought from Nil over the West Indies.
! principally from Jamaica and Barbados.
| There are some from the Spanish islands. too.
| and from the bahamas. and many OF the men
had their families with them. SO had nm en-
cellept opportunity to study the character 81
| the West Indian negro.
II soon became accustomed to their ways.
| and learned some curious things about them
| What struck me as most curious Of all. is the
| fact that every West Indian negro Is anxious
TO change the color OF his skin and TO
straighten his hair The moro Intelligent ones
OF course. know that this ia impossible: hut
the ignorant ones. who number about ninety
nine In every hundred. will 60 to any expense.
take any risks with chemicals to whiten
their skin and take the kinks out of their hair.
A lottery ticket il no attraction at all beside u
bottle OF stuff that is warranted to take out
the color OF the skin. With such demand
for chemical preparations. 1t Is not TO he
wondered at that the West Indian market is
full Of them.
"A comfortable boarding place in st. Lucia
ia out ~ ha ma Inn nd wo In far
Elk months or moro OF it. the foreman md l
rented little bungalow hall n mile out OF
town. on the shore OF the harbor with an old
stone boathouse on the waters edge. Not far
away was n row OF shanties occupied by
colored laborers and their families. SO. as our
three or four servants all had families at
tached. we had plenty OF colored company.
The universal desire to change the color Of
the skin was first brought to my notice in n
visit made to little grocery shop on the out
skirts Of the town. Castries is tho name OF the
town. and there are three or four very good
stores there: but all over the place. and par
ticularly in the suburbs. there are great num-
bera OF little grocery groggeries. whose own
ers and customers are exclusively colored peo-
pie. One OF these shops was not far from our
house. and We often sent down there for
dies. sugar. or anything that we needed in
hurry. On my way home one evening l re-
membered That we were out OF toilet soap and
stepped into this shop to buy some. A big box
OF toilet soap. tilted UP on tho counter. was the
most conspicuous thing IN the shor. The box
was as big as laundry soap box. made to hold
probably fifty pounds. but the soap it contained
was In small cakes. each wrapped up in fancy
autographed paper. like the expensive French
toilet soaps. 1t was labelled somebody's Eng
lish Complexion Soap and the price was ono
English shilling. "a cents. n cake.
This led me to make some inquiries: for
laborer working for so cents day does not
usually pay "a cents cake for his toilet soap.
sold. The shopkeeper. himself a m ulattc. as
s $50 n at, via" ,.V , =. ~Iu'd
~, Nv 80 49, ~ ~. ~ 80 ~ n"u
made expressly for washing the color out Of
nagroes, skina and TINT n was n suro tbing
mesros' s. nnu ,.'' ~ mas eui0 ,m,nt
II used perseverlnGly. consequently. almost
every negro In St Lucia was washing with the |
En.iisb cor, nIerion .oan nj 81 Giants :, c,ro
"'Have you ever known of negro washing
himself white with this soapY l asked the |
sn !. u. "n'o,
lie shrugged his shoulders and smiled. and !
replied that perhaps it had not been in use
,one enough Set. Az any rare II ola them no
HARM and Kept them from using worse things.
, ,,ro. ,,,os ehn,ro.so owl ,ho,,oL 49,, , 30,
" ia. se s'a'' s'o" Ia'' auu S''o"e. 'no eo!-
lection OF cosmetics that could hardly BIO dupli-
Gated outside OF the West Indies There were
the skin by chemical action-some in powder
form. some liquid. and others unguonts. None
OF these bleaching preparations sold for less
tnan six English shllings the COX or bottle and
some for eight and ten shiings; but at these
prices. he said, he sold large quantities Of
them. Not less in number were the prepare
lions for traightening the hair These were
all unguents and sold at from four to eight
shillngs the bottle. Koep an eye on your
colored people, he told me. and you will find
that nine in every ten are trying to bleach
and straighten their hair
e. Don't they soon find tnat these things are
all humhug. and give it upY asked.
mo he replied. for they get Just enough
results from them to encourage them to 60
on. All OF these things contain enough acid
or some other chem zeal TO tighten the color OF
the skin very slightly for. . short time. Ere
quent rubbing with a stiff brush has the same
effect. The darkest negro can make himself n
shade lighter by violent rubbing continued for
weeks. but the color returns In a few days
They want something quicker than that
After this conversation kept my eyes open
and what saw astonished me Good fortune
threw in our way an American cook a coored