Natalie’s mother married a dark skinned man, Nat King Cole. You may have heard of him – the silky smooth voice of “Unforgettable,” “Nature Boy,” “Smile,” “Too Young,” “The Christmas Song” (Chestnut Roasting On An Open Fire), “Mona Lisa” and “Ramblin’ Rose” – and, in 1956, became the first Black ever to host his own network TV show, NBC’s The Nat King Cole Show. Yeah, that guy. So why would Maria Cole’s family have such a dislike for dark skin Black people?

Natalie also claimed her mother’s family felt that her father, was too Black for them.

[pull_quote_center]“For a dark-skinned man such as my father to acquire a light-skinned woman such as my mother was a real important prize.”Your status moved up. That doesn’t mean that her family was all that happy about her marrying my father. He was too Black for them.”[/pull_quote_center]

Her Grandmother was very socially conscious, and according to Natalie:

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“She [Natalie’s Grandmother] didn’t want my mother to get involved with anyone with too many Black characteristics, because then your children would look funny. It wasn’t just my mother, it’s the way many Black people were raised.”

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Well there you have it folks. Reading this makes me wonder if Natalie Cole grew up with skin complexion issues, being that she was a brown girl being raised with a few family members who viewed her complexion as something to not be fully proud of, although I don’t doubt for one second that they loved her.

This subject has been deeply rooted in our community all the way back to slavery when the darker slaves worked outside in the fields and the lighter slaves oftentimes worked in the house. We all know the story- the lighter skinned slaves were closer to the owner’s complexion, and therefore tolerable enough to be within close proximity to his family. Unfortunately, in a lot of African American circles, we also know that this psychological stigma still exists and many Black people throughout the centuries have had feelings of never being good enough and/or accepted. Clearly, Natalie Cole’s family was also affected by this.

 

Spike Lee’s School Daze tackled the modern day version of this topic well. Growing up, many of us probably recall hearing certain kids get ridiculed with jokes calling them “darkie,” “blackie” and others. Just as some of us also heard people tease light skinned kids and call them names like “high yellow” and such. I remember my friend’s Grandmother would say that it was okay for the boyfriends, husbands, or the men in the family to be dark, but not the women…..that’s a subject for another day though. But this is the kind of thing Natalie Cole dealt with in her own family.

Back to the Spike Lee joint which was based on Spike’s experiences at Morehouse College, you had the jigaboos and wannabees. I know for a fact that across the street at the sister school – Spelman College, there was once a time when young high school senior girls applied, they had to send in photos to pass the ‘brown paper bag’ test unless their mother was an alum, or they were from a powerful family.

So it definitely doesn’t make it right, but at least this helps us to understand a little bit more about how much Mrs. Maria Cole and her family were inflicted by these universal light skin/ dark skin misconceptions, being that it was such a huge ‘thing’ in our community, and to a large degree, it’s still a ‘thing’ today. For example, have you seen any of today’s music videos lately? Finding a brown or dark skin woman in one of them is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but that too, is a story for another day.

Sadly, Mrs. Cole passed away just a few years ago and this is what Natalie Cole and her siblings, Timolin and Casey Cole (twins) had to say about their Mother, Maria Cole:

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“Our mom was in a class all by herself. She epitomized class, elegance, and truly defined what it is to be a real lady.”

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Maria and Nat King Cole were married from 1948 until his death from lung cancer in 1965, shortly after he finished filming the comedy Western Cat Ballou, with Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda. May Mr. and Mrs. Cole continue to rest well.