It was the 1950s: The Supreme Court had ruled against segregation. Heroes like Martin Luther
King Jr. and Rosa Parks were bravely leading the fight for racial equality. “We shall overcome” was the rallying cry, even as Alabama’s Governor Wallace personally blocked the entrance to a white-only school. Meanwhile, across America, innocent young children were opening their coloring books to fill in houses and trees, cars and airplanes, animals and people. My box of Crayolas gave me options for just about everything, including a color called Flesh that was presumably the color of skin. It was a pinkish light tan.

©Ellen Azorin