By Noel King, National Public Radio, October 17, 2019
NOEL KING, HOST:
Actress Lupita Nyong'o became a household name playing Patsey in "12 Years A Slave," and then "Black Panther" brought her worldwide fame. Her characters are strong, and they are undeniably gorgeous. But growing up as a dark-skinned girl, she didn't always feel beautiful. Now she's written a children's book called "Sulwe" about a little girl a lot like herself.
LUPITA NYONG'O: Five years old, I had a younger sister who was born, and she was very light-skinned.
KING: Ah.
NYONG'O: With that came the cooing and the cawing and her being called pretty. And just - there was a obvious preference for her skin color. So that was the first time that I started to feel unrelated to the word beauty. The teasing started in my teenage years. You know, it wasn't a lifetime of teasing, but it was definitely a subconscious recognition that lighter skin was better for one.
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