brown bag test

The "brown bag test" was a form of racial discrimination used in the early 20th century to determine privileges based on skin tone.

Definition

C1Racial Discrimination

(historical)A practice where an individual's skin color was compared to a brown paper bag to determine if they were light-skinned enough to receive certain privileges.

Example

  • Many African-American social clubs in the early 1900s used the brown bag test to decide membership eligibility.
  • The brown bag test was a painful reminder of colorism within the community.

B2Medicine

(clinical)A method where patients bring all their medications to a doctor's appointment to review for potential interactions and ensure proper usage.

Example

  • The doctor asked the patient to do a brown bag test to review all the medications she was taking.

Similar

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "brown bag test":

brown bagbrown baggingblack bagblue bagbench testsniff testpencil testsmell test