I could have sworn that so-called “flesh” colored crayons
were around during the entirety of my 60’s childhood, but that couldn’t have
been the case. As the U.S. Civil
Rights movement heated up, Crayola Crayon Executives, huddled perhaps in their
multi-hued nuclear bomb resistant shelters for an emergency meeting during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, made the momentous decision in 1962 to change the
designation of “flesh” to “peach.”
I was four. I understood
neither nuclear winter nor racism.
I recall stockpiles of “flesh” crayons passed between me and my largely
white classmates for the rest of the decade until one day Flesh was
extinct.
I didn’t miss it. I was on to other pursuits by
then. A papier mache figure whose
newspaper skin I never quite finished.
A decoupage plaque of a dove of peace that my art teacher pronounced
clichéd. A social studies project
of screaming headlines pasted beside a naked Vietnamese girl running out of her
skin.
To learn which colors have been retired or changed, click
here.
