Cynthia Hull (IF You Know? Book Excerpt)

Again, is there more of Proverbs 25:2 at work?

“It is the glory of (YAH) God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.”

The mystery? What’s hidden?

“High yellow... is a term used to describe persons classified as black... despite having primarily white European ancestry. It is a color reference to the golden skin tone of some mixed-race people... ‘High’ is usually considered a reference to a social class system in which skin color (and associated ancestries) is a major factor, placing those of lighter skin (with more European ancestry) at the top and those of darker skin at the bottom. High yellows, while still considered part of the African-American ethnic group, were thought to gain privileges because of their skin and ancestry. ‘Yellow’ is in reference to the usually very pale yellow undertone to the skin color of members of this group, often due to mixture with Europeans...”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_yellow

Further curious in my research on “High Yellow,” I came across the 1965 film of the same name. I watched it on YouTube.

“Cindy” (played by Cynthia Hull), a light-skinned black teen, gets a job as a maid for the dysfunctional family of a Hollywood producer. 

Themes of “passing” and aspiration are dominant throughout the story.

The characters reflect that in their interaction with one another:

 Judy: “You could pass for white.”

Cindy: “I intend to.”

Judy: “You’re gonna pass, ain’t you, Cindy?”

As I searched for information about the film’s lead actress, Cynthia Hull, I was dumbfounded by her appearance and how she was “cast” in episodic television shows like “Hawaii Five-O.”

Because the film, “High Yellow” was shot in black and white, there was a nebulous “grey scale” which made everything more obscure.

It’s difficult to know what I was seeing.

But, in the selection of different photographs of Hull, including those television stills, a few color images showed up.

And I was again confronted with the similarity she had to me. She had that “olive” skin tone, like mine. She had dark brown hair, like mine. She had brown eyes, like mine. She was regarded as “exotic.” Like me?

So, after watching “High Yellow,” I became even more fascinated with this appearance concept. Other “code words” to describe this skin tone included, “Light-skinned,” “One-drop rule,” “Mixed-race” or “Passing.”

Copyright © 2025 by Sheryle Cruse