Mary Mebane was a North Carolina native. She was born in 1933 in Durham, North Carolina. Mary attended North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina. She taught public schools in North Carolina before relocating to teaching at the University of South Carolina and the University of Wisconsin. From her autobiography “Shades of Black”, Mebane tells us how color and class classified members of the African American society. Mebane points out the discrimination of the stereotypical young black girl. The discrimination observed by Mebane was that darker complexion women were perceived as less intelligent and attractive which made them less powerful in society.
As a freshman in college during her first week, Mary Mebane was
