Black No More
A satiric take from the Harlem Renaissance on American race relations. Schuyler (pronounced Sky-ler) spares neither the KKK or NAACP in condemning the ways in which race functions as both an obsession and a commodity in early twentieth-century America. The central premise of the novel is that an African American scientist invents a machine that can transform blacks into whites. Those who have internalized white racism, those who are tired of inferior opportunities socially and economically, and those who simply want to expand their sexual horizons, line up to be transformed. As the country "whitens," the economic importance of racial segregation in the South as a means of maintaining elite white economic and social status becomes increasingly apparent.
The novel is worth reading not only for its satiric bite and preposterous inventive plot machinations, but also for the cariacatures of prominent figures of the American 1920s including W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvery, James Weldon Johnson, and others. It also serves as a wonderful counterpoint to more frequently read novels of the Harlem Renaissance.
Referenced By
1931 in literature
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