Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) a person of mixed race, usu. a woman or girl.

1919		Benny Davies [song title] At the High Brown Babies’ Ball.
1929		(con. WWI) H. Odum Wings on My Feet 235: I tells her blackes’ ones come from down in Florida and Mississippi, high yallers from Georgia an’ South Carolina, high browns from North Carolina an’ Virginia, an’ blue veins from up North.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 329: You know he went for a high brown, Georgia Brown, and boy, I thought we’d get our throats slashed.
1942		Z.N. Hurston ‘Story in Harlem Sl.’ in Novels and Stories (1995) 1008: Colorscale: high yaller, yaller, high brown, vaseline brown, seal brown, low brown, dark brown.
1953		W. Fisher Waiters 201: Up in Harlem every Saturday night / When the high browns get together.

2. (US black) a sophisticated individual or object.

1938

‘Idioms of the Present-Day Amer. Negro’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 314/2: HIGH BROWN. (Original meaning) Just the right shade, neither too dark nor too light. (New meaning) Anything that is high class or up to date. [Ibid.] STEP ASIDE, COAL CAR, AND LET A HIGH BROWN PASS. Reply to someone who has been outwitted.