Jeryn Calhoun attended the C.W. Howard Santa School in Midland, Mich. He was the only African- American student out of 70 from the United States and Canada. "Santa is a spirit and an ideal," he says. "When someone is in that Santa suit, the children are colorblind." (Courtesy Jeryn Calhoun)

Inside Blackness: Black Santa

Jeryn Calhoun attended the C.W. Howard Santa School in Midland, Mich. He was the only African- American student out of 70 from the United States and Canada. "Santa is a spirit and an ideal," he says. "When someone is in that Santa suit, the children are colorblind."

Credit: Courtesy Jeryn Calhoun