Brown paper bag test[edit]
The phrase brown paper bag test along with the "ruler test" has traditionally been used by African Americans throughout the 20th and 21st century with reference to a ritual once practiced by certain African-American sororities and fraternities who would not let anyone into the group whose skin tone was darker than a paper bag. Also known as a paper bag party, these lighter-skinned social circles reflected an idea of exclusion and exclusiveness. The notion of the paper bag has carried a complex and obscure meaning in black communities for many decades. The reason for the usage of the "paper bag" is because the color of the paper bag is considered to be the "center" marker of blackness that distinguishes light skin from dark skin on a continuum stretching infinitely from black to white. Also, the brown paper bag is believed to act as a benchmark for certain levels of acceptance and inclusion.[44] Spike Lee's film School Daze satirized this practice at historically black colleges and universities.[45] Along with the "paper bag test," guidelines for acceptance among the lighter ranks included the "comb test" and pencil test, which tested the coarseness of one's hair, and the "flashlight test," which tested a person's profile to make sure their features measured up or were close enough to those of the Caucasian race.[44]