color line
noun
variants
US color line
or British colour line
plural color lines
: a set of societal or legal barriers that segregates people of color from white people (as by restricting social interaction or requiring separate facilities) and prevents people of color from exercising the same rights and accessing the same opportunities as white people
—usually used with the
His father … had grown up in California with Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line in Major League Baseball.—
Maureen O'Donnell
Maureen O'Donnellcalled also color bar
Examples of color line in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
This followed the September 2024 launch of Credo Skincare, an in-house facial skin care line by the clean beauty retailer, which also operates an in-house color line, Exa Beauty, from 2020.
—Noor Lobad, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019
Few others crossed the color line to consider Simpson in such company.
—Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
They were stuck behind the color line because of all these mechanisms of exclusion and housing markets.
—Tax Notes Staff, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
When the two separated in 1897, Fleet changed the family’s last name to Greene and, along with her five children, crossed the color line.
—Deborah W. Parker, The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2025
The novel tested theories about assimilation and the color line.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2025
How the Black Press Helped Integrate Baseball In the 1930s and ’40s, Black newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier used their platform to help break the sport’s color line.
—JSTOR Daily, 20 Feb. 2025
After a season with the Royals, Robinson was called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, breaking the modern-day color line in Major League Baseball.
—Russell Contreras, Axios, 6 Jan. 2025
Millions of African Americans migrated north in the decades following World War I, confounding efforts to police the color line in many cities.
—Bryan Greene, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Nov. 2024
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Noor Lobad, WWD, 3 Sep. 2019
Few others crossed the color line to consider Simpson in such company.
—Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 5 May 2025
They were stuck behind the color line because of all these mechanisms of exclusion and housing markets.
—Tax Notes Staff, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
When the two separated in 1897, Fleet changed the family’s last name to Greene and, along with her five children, crossed the color line.
—Deborah W. Parker, The Conversation, 31 Jan. 2025
The novel tested theories about assimilation and the color line.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Mar. 2025
How the Black Press Helped Integrate Baseball In the 1930s and ’40s, Black newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier used their platform to help break the sport’s color line.
—JSTOR Daily, 20 Feb. 2025
After a season with the Royals, Robinson was called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, breaking the modern-day color line in Major League Baseball.
—Russell Contreras, Axios, 6 Jan. 2025
Millions of African Americans migrated north in the decades following World War I, confounding efforts to police the color line in many cities.
—Bryan Greene, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Nov. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Color line.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/color%20line. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.
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