One of the most overlooked and insightful dialogues that Mark Twain participated in regarding racism is the one he reported to Helene Picard in a letter dated 26 August 1909 — online at http://www.twainquotes.com/picard.html He described a conversation with his daughter Jean and her indignation that he believed the Virgin Mary was a dark-skinned woman. Twain recognized the unavoidable racism present in all — a psychological tendency to identify with and prefer “sameness.” Following up on the history of how artists tend to portray Christ as fair-skinned is a book THE COLOR OF CHRIST: THE SON OF GOD & THE SAGA OF RACE IN AMERICA by Blum and Harvey (Univ. Of North Carolina Press, 2012) that also references Twain’s dialogue with Jean as well as Hal Bush’s MARK TWAIN AND THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS OF HIS AGE. Barb