How does Cathy Sampson's skin color affect what she is able to do?

How does Cathy Sampson's skin color affect what she is able to do?

Cathy’s skin color affects everything she is able to accomplish in the society in which she lives. Because she is so light skinned she is able to pass as white in order to become a doctor. However,she sees herself as an integral part of the black community, and commits herself to the cause of emancipation on many levels.

Cathy is so fair she is able to pass as white and receive an education. It also allows her to treat white women because they do not feel they are being treated by a colored person. She intellectually connects with the black community, but emotionally I don't think she understands what actual black people were going through. That's why she didn't understand the grief of the lost love and the feeling of disconnect of the freed slaves when they no longer had an identity.

As a black woman she wouldn't have received an education. She was able to live a double life, unfortunately she didn't really fit into either the black or white world.

As a light skinned black woman she was able to be educated and become a doctor. She was also able to open her hospital to help black women. When faced with the reality the hospital might close she then changed the name and then opened it up to all women. Because of her light skin the Caucasian women felt comfortable coming to her.

For me, one of the more surprising elements in the book was colorism. Not that it doesn't exist now, or didn't exist then, but just how seamless it was written into the story, and also, how, at times, perceptions were made of dark-skinned Libertie. My great aunt was a podiatrist in the early 1900s and was very fair-skinned. I have always wondered how that was a vehicle in her success. Did her patients view her the way Cathy's patients did?

Cathy was light-skinned so she was able to cross barriers that darker skinned women couldn't. Eventually, even white women accepted her as a doctor. Libertie's dark skin was a hindrance as it wasn't as acceptable to others, even to other black people. Even Emmanuel's family looked down on Libertie's skin color, as did the ladies who attended Ella's gatherings.

It is indicative of the importance of "sameness" in society. To be different is to be noticed, frequently in a negative manner, whether dark skin in a light/white skin environment, or vice versa. Cathy is accepted as "same," as belonging, therefore she has access to education not otherwise available.

Cathy's light skin color enabled her to get an education and to be able to practice medicine with white as well as darker-skinned patients. She was also able to enjoy other benefits available only to whites -- attending theater performances, for instance.

Dr. Sampson is aware that her skin color affords her certain status, privilege, and access that other darker skinned Black women did not have; she uses “passing” to her advantage.
Cathy Sampson’s fair skin allowed her to attend medical school, open a practice where she could treat both black and white patients and open a “Colored Women’s Hospital.” In short, her skin color gave her access where darker skin women would be denied. Libertie recounts an incident where her mother had “passed” to see Macbeth because Black people were not admitted to any theater in their downtown.

Cathy's light skin made her acceptable to others. They could forget she was black. Libertie noticed this when white women back away from her touching them, Cathy had many freedoms that Libertie did not because of the difference in their skin color,

Cathy was able to pass into the white word in a very prejudiced society.even within the African American society there are some who look down upon darkest skin.

Cathy Simson's pale skin tone allows her to pass as white, she receives an education and becomes a doctor. This would not be possible if were darker. She is able to move between two cultures and even open a hospital that treats white patients.

The character, Cathy Sampson, reminds me of two of the characters in the book titled "Passing". She took advantage of the tone of her skin, which is what many black individuals do to get what they want when they have no other options.

I agree with CCC and the reference to Nella Larsen's breathtaking novel "Passing". In "Passing" one of the black women characters (who is passing for white) is manipulative. I didn't find that Cathy manipulated being light-skinned but rather used it to her advantage. It helped her practice and so she honored her privilege. What I find similar about both books is the line in "Passing" 'Everything must be paid for.' In Libertie, Cathy pays the price for how she mothers Libertie. Her coldness, and her inability to save Ben from the wounds slavery wrought, drives Libertie away. The line 'Everything must be paid for' refers to loss. Something must be given up. Cathy gained because of her skin color. But she also lost.

I agree with CCC and Valeriem about Larsen's book Passing, great comparison! Colorism let Cathy take things she needed to help improve her community yet what she lost from benefiting from that freedom was huge.

It was a great asset for Cathy to be able to pass for white in her chosen profession as a doctor. She wouldn't have been able to go to school to become a doctor, or treat white patients, had she not been very fair complected. I never felt like she manipulated the situation, but definitely benefited from it.

As a lighter skinned black woman, Cathy was able to enter places that a darker skinned woman like Libertie could not. Cathy had even passed for white on occasions.