skin

I used to believe that fat/skin was cheese and you could just cut it off.

Emily

My mother took my brother to the grocery store with her. He saw an african-american person for the first time and excitedly pointed out "Look! A chocolate person!"

CRG

I use to believe that black people were just people who go to the beach alot.

Xambonie

My papa always told me that I had freckles because i got to close to the cows and their poop splashed on me....

Hanna 23

I have a wart on the end of my index finger, and have since I can remember. When I was little I would suck my first two fingers. My brother told me that I sucked that wart right out of my finger, and I believed it!

Pamela

Upon the birth of our youngest daughter, we found she had been born with an extremely large, "Hemangioma/Strawberry-type, Birth Mark." Because of it's extraordinary size, I had told my daughter (when she was about 2), that all babies born with Birth Marks had been kissed by an Angel and that explained why they had them, but that in Her case, she had been "kissed by an entire Host of Angels!" She's 13 today, and still believes this is true. (Or so she says she does!) *smile

Dazed n' Confused Redneck Ridgerunner

When I was about 5 or 6 years old, I overheard my mother mention 'colored people'. I thought that she meant people who were green, blue, purple, etc. I'd never seen anyone like that, so I was looking forward to seeing one someday. Of course, in school, I had plenty of black classmates, but it never occured to me to think of them as 'colored'.

Karen

I thought that a "birth mark" was the first place on your body that was born.

My birthmark is on the back of my head but my older sister's is on the inside of her knee and I could never figure out how THAT part of her could come out of my mom first.

julia

I was about 4 when I first saw a black person. (give me a break, I lived on a farm in Tennessee!) My mother says that I asked him if someone had set him on fire! My mom does not remember how he explained his skin color to me...

Rose

When I was little, I believed I would grow warts if I touched the eye of a fish and the wart would smell "fishy" for the rest of my life!

ArmWild39

When I was a small girl, I used to believe black men had fallen into chocolate.

elodie, French student in eighth grade

When I was young, I thought that black people had a horrible skin affliction. I thought I would slowly turn black if I touched them, and so I avoided them like the plague until I was about 7 years old.

Anon

When I was little I told my great-grand mother that if she spent less time in the tub she wouldn't be so pruny. Later I find out that it was just wrinkles!

kerri

I was told recently that when i was a wee little girlie [about 6] i tried to rub the 'dirt' off of a black friends skin.How stupid.

Kirstina

When I was little I thought that permanent markers would stay forever on your skin too. So one day I took a yellow highlighter (they were shaped the same as permanent markers, so I thought they were the same) and I decided to make a small mark on my jaw. Now WHY, if I thought it would be there forever, would I do that? I have no clue. But I was really worried for days after.

YellowDot