Black (color)

“ Look at the hundreds of advertised hair-dyes, used for the purpose of changing Nature! See men with their gray beards dyed black; women with those beautiful [Pg 388] black locks, which but yesterday were as white as the driven snow! Not only this, but even those with light or red whiskers run to the dye-kettle, steal a color which Nature has refused them, and an hour after curse the negro for a complexion that is not stolen. If black is so hateful, why do not gentlemen have their boots whitewashed? If the slaves of the South had been white, the same prejudice would have existed against them. ”

“ Contrast of color is perceptible in black when combined with color simply because the black is not perfectly black but a very dark gray, and hence there is the same complementary effect which shows in white and the lighter grays, but in a smaller degree. This effect is most clearly seen when the color used in combination is blue or blue-green, which induces in the black, yellow or red complementaries and gives the black a "rusty" appearance. ”

“ That which is destitute of light or whiteness; the darkest color, or rather a destitution of all color; as, a cloth has a good black. Black is the badge of hell, The hue of dungeons, and the suit of night. Shak. 2. A black pigment or dye. 3. A negro; a person whose skin is of a black color, or shaded with black; esp. a member or descendant of certain African races. 4. A black garment or dress; as, she wears black pl. (Obs.) Mourning garments of a black color; funereal drapery. Friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like show death terrible. ”

“ Why was his hair tinted with gold? An evil omen was golden hair in my life. Why had not the brown of his eyes crushed out and killed the blue?—for brown were his father’s eyes, and his father’s father’s. And thus in the Land of the Color-line I saw, as it fell across my baby, the shadow of the Veil. ”

“ The color of the skin, that important mark of race, may be best understood by looking at the darkest variety. The dark hue of the negro does not lie so deep as the innermost or true skin, which is substantially alike among all races of mankind. The negro, in spite of his name, is not black, but deep brown, and even this darkest hue does not appear at the beginning of life, for the new-born negro child is reddish-brown, soon becoming slaty-gray, and then darkening. Nor does the darkest tint ever extend over the negro's whole body, but his soles and palms are brown. ”

“ The red man has but few houses, and few warriors, but the red man has a heart which throbs as warmly as the heart of his white brother. The Great Spirit has given us our hunting grounds, and the skin of the deer which we kill there, is his favorite, for its color is white, and this is the emblem of peace. This hunting dress and these feathers of the eagle are white. Accept them, my brother; I have given one like this to the White Otter. Accept of it as a memorial of Black Hawk. ”

“ In combination with black the density and richness of the other colors will be intensified in the effectiveness of the display. Where black is laid over the supplementary colors it often gives the effect of an added color. ”

“ The universal partiality of our countrymen for black, as the color of dress clothes, at least, is frequently remarked upon by foreigners. Among the best dressed men on the Continent, as well as in England, black, through not confined to the clergy, is in much less general use than here. They adopt the darker shades of blue, brown, and green, and for undress almost as great diversity of colors as of fabrics. ”

“ The further in tone the color is from black the more it contrasts with the black. As an illustration: Orange is more pleasing than a deeper shade of red as a companion color for black. Blue, purple or green, selected to be used with black, must be lightened with white ink to get the desired contrast. ”

“ White is also more plentifully distributed, and is seen in the hair and beard of old men, in horses, and in many accessories, for which red is also occasionally employed. As{230} the art developed, red figures were more frequently introduced among those in black; and we also find the artist entirely obscuring the natural color of the paste by means of a white slip, or coat, upon which he painted the black figures. ”

“ White is worn universally by men and women next to the face, in collars or in neckwear, and the reason for it is that the contiguous white intensifies whatever color they may possess. Black, on the other hand, lessens the color or lowers its tone.
32. Gray is a medium between the two. While it renders an adjacent color less brilliant, it takes to itself at the same time a tint that is a complement of that adjacent color. ”

“ White and black represent extremes in color. Mixing of all the color rays of the solar spectrum produces white, and mixing of all the colors in the solid form of printing ink produces black. From this contrast of white and black maybe drawn a lesson in color. (Example 31.) Light represents warmth, darkness cold. As the colors are toward light they are warm; as they are toward darkness they are cold. Red becomes warmer as it takes on an orange hue, and colder as it takes on a purple hue. A warm color should be contrasted with a cold color—as orange with black. ”

“ The color is, of course, a matter of taste. Black is always stylish, and is particularly becoming to a stout person. Dark blue, hunter's green, and dark brown are also becoming colors, especially for slender, youthful figures. ”

“ After all, some very well informed and very well meaning people will read what I have now said, and what seems to me so just and reasonable, and will still insist that the color of the negro has something to do with the feeling entertained toward him; that the white man naturally shudders at the thought of contact with one who is black -- that the impulse is one which he can neither resist nor control. ”

“ Brown-black hair, steel-gray eyes, fair skin with color in cheeks, may wear all greens (save the very light) , cream-white, fawns, grays, browns, reds, violet, a rich pink, and all blues. If any type can wear black with impunity, this can. For jewels, any desired stone.
Black hair, very dark eyes, golden-brown skin, warm color, brilliantly white teeth, may wear rich browns, clarets, deep amber, cream-white, warm pinks and flame-color. Avoid black and very pale colors. Yellow may be worn sometimes, but with a warning here to the black-haired type in general. ”

“ The Negro cannot stand the present reactionary tendencies and unreasoning drawing of the color-line indefinitely without discouragement and retrogression. And the condition of the Negro is ever the excuse for further discrimination. ”

“ In transparent color this has more the effect of a dark gray than a brilliant black, such as is produced with body colors. When you want a very dark black, it is better to use a little India ink with it. It is used in the skies of landscapes when you wish a gray effect, or to subdue a too strong blue color or red, and in foregrounds for rocks. In connection with yellow it will make a sombre green for trees, mountains, etc. In portraits it is used for the hair and eyes, in the shadows around the mouth, and in drapery in connection with the other colors. ”

“ In consequence of this law of contrast of tone the contrast of black with active colors generally tends to intensify the black and lower the tone of the color, i.e., to weaken it as though white or light gray was mixed with it, but this effect is modified by contrast of color. ”

“ Black is, of course, the natural color of the hair, but it is not always worn of this hue. Other colors are thought more becoming; and the hair, both of the men and women, is dyed in a variety of ways, lime burning it to a redish or whity-brown shade. ”

“ Besides, black would be a prettier color for a top than lead color. A jet black top, well polished, would be very handsome."
"Is black a color?" asked Marco. "I read in a book once that black and white were not colors."
"There are two meanings to the word color," said Forester. "In one sense, black is a color, and in another sense, it is not. For instance, if a lady were to go into a shop, and ask for some morocco shoes for a little child, and they were to show her some black ones, she might say she did not want [Pg 72] black ones ”

“ Broken Colors.—Gray colors, often improperly called broken tints. For simplicity, a tint of a color is described as the pure color mixed with white and a shade as the color mixed with black, and the corresponding broken color is the same color mixed with both white and black or with neutral gray. A tint of a color thrown into a shadow or a shade of a color in bright sunlight gives a broken color. For various reasons a very large proportion of the colors in nature are broken. ”

“ Rock is tall and of good figure, with a thoughtful countenance, and a look that indicates the student. In color he is what is termed a grief, about one remove from the negro. By his own color he has long been regarded as a representative man. ”

“ Let us survey the gradations of color on the continent of Africa itself. The inhabitants of the north are whitest; and as we advance southward towards the line, and those countries in which the sun’s rays fall more perpendicularly, the complexion gradually assumes a darker shade. And the same men, whose color has been rendered black by the powerful influence of the sun, if they remove to the north, gradually become whiter (I mean their posterity) , and eventually lose their dark color. ”

“ The part of a thing which is distinguished from the rest by being black. The black or sight of the eye. Sir K. Digby. 6. A stain; a spot; a smooch. Defiling her white lawn of chastity with ugly blacks of lust. Rowley. Black and white, writing or print; as, I must have that statement in black and white. Ð Blue black, a pigment of a blue black color. Ð Ivory black, a fine kind of animal charcoal prepared by calcining ivory or bones. When ground it is the chief ingredient of the ink used in copperplate printing. ”

“ White, black and gray, which find no place in the color-tone series, give an intensity series of their own, running from white through light gray and darker and darker gray to black, and any gray in this series may be the zero point in a saturation series of any color-tone. ”

“ Hundreds of Negroes with newly-acquired white skins have already entered white society and thousands will follow them. The black race from one end of the country to the other has in two short weeks gone completely crazy over the prospect of getting white. Day by day we see the color line which we have so laboriously established being rapidly destroyed. ”

“ In pigments these effects are imitated by the mixture of white with a color to produce tints, and black for shades, or more generally instead of black some dark natural pigment approaching the hue of the color, may be preferred because a black pigment will too often impart an unexpected and undesirable hue to the color. As for example, in making shades of red some natural brown pigment is better than black, and so various dark browns and grays are used for different colors. ”

“ They certainly will turn black to a brick-dust hue, but the color is often disagreeable. It is apt to present itself in patches in different hues, and the effect on the hair is terrible—it often rots and crumbles away. ”

“ Therefore, if the coloring process of a hot climate, applied to the white man over 1500 years, has made no perceptible change in his complexion—and, as it is a poor rule that wont work both ways—I am curious to know how long the process will require to protuburate the features, straighten the wool, and bleach the black man white? or to flatten the features, and color the white man black? ”

“ The white is an imitation of new-fallen snow. Neither of these standards can be very nearly approached although we often hear of things as "white as snow" and as "black as night." In the same group and following the black and white are two examples each of the four kinds of grays: Green gray, warm gray, cool gray and neutral gray. A pure white in shadow is the true neutral gray and a perfect imitation of this is made by the rotation of combined black and white disks on the color wheel. If to the black and white disks we add a blue disk we have cool grays. ”

“ In the abstract, there is no prejudice against color. No man shrinks from another because he is clothed in a suit of black, nor offended with his boots because they are black. We are told by those who have resided there that a white man in Africa comes to think that ebony is about the proper color for man. ”

“ If more than two color disks, besides white and black, are used they will neutralize each other more or less, and a neutral gray or a gray and some spectrum color will be the result. For example, if yellow and blue in nearly equal parts are introduced in connection with red and orange, the yellow and blue being nearly complimentary to each other will produce practically a neutral gray, and the result will be the same as if only red, orange, white and black were used. ”

“ It is a fact, as curious as it is interesting; and which, with other corroborating facts; proves the close proximity of the Black man to the order of animals next below the human Race, which is, that each variety of the wild animals has but one color of hair and eyes, peculiar to itself; and the Black man, like the wild animals, has the same uniform color of hair and eyes peculiar to himself ”