[The Saucepan Man]

I appreciate that Tolkien reference guides may not always represent the last word, but as I said, other than the books themselves, the Illustrated Encyclopedia is all I have to go on for the time being. And it seems to me that the notion that Orcs were black-skinned must have come from somewhere in JRRT's works, rather than having been made up by the author of the Encyclopedia.

There are a few possible references in LotR that I managed to find. For example, the Orc-Chieftain who leads the attack against the Fellowship in the Chamber of Mazarbul, is described as having a "swart" face, meaning dark-hued (though not necessarily black).

While listening to the Uruk-Hai and Orcs argue amongst themselves, Pippin sees "a large black Orc, probably Ugluk" (although the fact that he was standing in the twighlight might have made him seem darker). Also, Ugluk describes the horesemen of Rohan as "Whiteskins".

None of these references are conclusive, although there may be others.

Anyway, it makes no difference to the original point that I was making which is, even if the Orcs are black-skinned, this does not (as Dr Shapiro attempts to argue) in any way suggest to me racism on JRRT's part.