This is my original Paper Bag Test, made in 1994 or so when I attended Fall Concentration at the Penland School of Craft with the amazing Julie Leonard. At that time, I was called a number of things when people attempted to describe me, my skin tone, and my race. There were few people of color there at that time, and it seemed important to the white folks to get me categorized in their minds.

Porch Monkey and High Yellow were the most memorable. Both were said with intended affection, and honestly, I had to research the terms. The slow burn of my reactions led to more research and more terms, until I had a large collection of all sorts of words for skin tone and race, from many different contexts.

Designed for use, the book is made of several pockets of reinforced paper bag, and swatch boards covered in paste paper. The center two swatches are labeled ‘black’ and ‘white’ and are the same color as the paper bag. As people used the book, I added their words to the pockets themselves.