color line
- Also called color bar. social or political restriction or distinction based on differences of skin pigmentation, as between white and black people.
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- draw the color line, to observe a color line.
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Origin of color line
An Americanism dating back to 1860–65
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for color line
Historical Examples
The “discoverer” had been the bane of many a people—remember the color-line!
Mr. Oseba's Last DiscoveryGeorge W. Bell
The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.
The Negro in Literature and Art in the United StatesBenjamin Brawley
They were not at all sure that the color-line could be peacefully drawn.
Wherever the discussion began it promptly shaded off toward the color-line and insult.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
This amendment wiped out the color-line in politics so far as any written law could possibly do it.