Quotes/references on black skin in Victorian times. Anyone know of anything?

[suwoo]

I need a quote for my essay.The woman is repellent as her skin is 'swarthy'. I need some kind of quote/reference to show how this was a 'normal' view by a victorian upper class male. I have the Beauty Myth and have been looking through bell hooks publications but I am yet to find anything. I don't want anything major, but I need somerthing more than an anecdotal comment from me, that this perception was a norm IYSWIM. Ta

(SGM, I can't find the full text on JSTOR or MLA as yet of the ones your DH suggested)

Her objectification is the angle I have taken. I think I will do as you suggest and mention her silence/ inability to speak (as she didn't jnow he was there).

Thanks.

Just to let everyone know that commented on this thread, I got my essay back yesterday and got 70 so I'm extremely pleased.

There might be something by Mary Kingsley- quoting a view of her time, or a critic attacking her or something, although I think she was generally well received.

What a fascinating thread. Makes me long for my uni days.
Dittany, I've read The Bluest Eye about three times and sobbed each time. It's one of the few books of my youth that I still own.