Final answer:
Andrea Levy's 'Back to My Own Country' discusses colorism in Jamaica and England, detailing Levy's awareness of a social hierarchy based on skin color during her youth and how lighter-skinned blacks often held privileged statuses over darker-skinned individuals.
Step-by-step explanation:
In Andrea Levy's "Back to My Own Country," she explores the colorism present both in Jamaica and England, illustrating how a social hierarchy based on skin color was perpetuated among black people. As a youth, Levy observed that lighter-skinned blacks were often advantaged and, in some cases, looked down on their darker counterparts. This internalized racism was a reflection of broader societal attitudes, where a lighter skin often correlated with a higher status, and by extension, treatment that was somewhat less discriminatory compared to those with darker skin.
In this complex social landscape, individuals were often assigned a social rank based on descriptors such as mulattos, quadroons, and octoroons—terms that indicated one's proximity to blackness or whiteness. Levy's reflections suggest a nuanced understanding of colorism from a young age, particularly recognizing how these internal divisions among people of African descent echoed the racial prejudices and structures imposed by colonial and slaveholding societies.