why do people refer to american indian skin color as red?

Question

I dont see them actually being red, more of a tannish. They have the same skin tone as the arabs, and eastern indians

Answer 1

I don't really agree. Tan people with an olive skin tone (like most of the tan Middle Eastern people I've met) tend to have a yellow undertone. I have a yellow undertone. When looking at pictures of full-blooded Native Americans their tan skin has a red undertone.

It's the same reason why people call the skin of people of Asian descent "yellow." The skin isn't yellow, but that's the undertone. Or calling someone "Black." I have met very few Black people who have skin dark enough to look like the color black. People in the past just picked a color that was close to describing the difference between that particular skin and other types of skin. I don't like it, but that's how we ended up with these generalizations in our language.

I'll never forget that song I had to learn as a kid... "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow black and white, they are precious in His sight..." Made me ill every time I had to sing it because it's not like any of us have skin that is actually red, yellow, black, OR white. It was an outdated generalization that I was forced to sing. Ick.

Okay my visit to my childhood is done now. Thanks for listening! :)

Answer 2

Well in the south during the civil war, mongolians were referred to as the copper race, orientals, the yellow race, indians red, africans, black and so on........Each of these races of people aren't really that color

Answer 3

Native american skin color has a reddish tan hue to it.
Asian skin tone tend to be more sallow (yellowish)
Anglo types cant obviously tan as well as African or Native American skin, and its colors can be sallow and/or pink, or olive in hue.

Answer 4

the Indigenous People ( Native Americans in US ) or First Nations
( Canada ) had a reddish tint to the skin but they also used red dye on their skin to protect themselves. this was probably a factor.

Answer 5

I don't know. My grandmother is native, and I grew up on a reservation.

Most have a beautiful light to dark brown skin tone.

Answer 6

White folks are really pink, black people are really brown, mexicans are tan... I don't know. Why? I believe alot of times the white eyes saw them with a sunburn and thought they were red when they described them. I have heard this before.

Answer 7

I don't believe that Christopher Columbus and his clan had ever seen anyone that wasn't "white." To them, Native Americans had a reddish skin tone.

Answer 8

Same reason why african-americans are referred to as black, when in fact their skin is various shades of brown and caucasians are white, when in fact their skin is a pale peachy color.

Answer 9

Why are Caucasians refered to as white ? I dont seem to look like chalk .
Its just a simple term to identify a group .

Answer 10

well i was brought up in oklahoma. lots of indians there mostly all tan or dark brown.but the pure indians with no mix at all do kind of look red.you hardly ever see them mostly older folks.