George S. Schuyler (1895–1977)

A tough satire, eloquently composed, wise and cynical. Schuyler seems to have attained the kind of understanding of human nature that can shade into misanthropy, or art. A process is discovered to turn Negroes white, convulsing social institutions and exposing the unctuous ambitions of politicians, race leaders, and clergy. The language of white supremacy is remarkably familiar (Black No More was published in 1931), and the prickling parodies of Marcus Garvey, WEB DuBois and Booker T. show more Washington are uncomfortably hilarious. Schuyler’s treatment of the grubby masses is no less caustic. The climactic act of violence is horrific, ironic, preposterous, and entirely imaginable. The dénouement brings the story full circle, and cleverly undermines the whole tottering, ambivalent psychology of race relations in the US. show less

As Danzy Senna points out in her excellent introduction to the Penguin edition Black No More, this novel is something like Dr. Seuss's The Sneeches, but for an adult audience. In 1931, a shady American doctor ("trained in Germany") discovers a way to remove Black racial characteristics and essentially transform Black people into White people. The treatment is a remarkable success, but there are many unforeseen consequences--economic and otherwise. An enterprising formerly-Black man, Matthew show more (formerly Max), finds ways to leverage this new racial confusion to his advantage. White people, he finds, still need the presence of a socially inferior group to prop up their fragile sense of superiority.

Even over ninety years after its initial publication, this blistering social satire is spot-on. show less

The struggle was real with this one. It's supposed to be satire, but it reads as all too real to me.

This slim novel poses the question: what happens if the color line can be erased? Will it take all the horrors of racism out with it?

Julius Crookman, a prominent Black physician, has patented a method of leaching the pigment from skin, based on the very real nervous condition vitiligo. He can turn Black people white - and even change their features to those of the Nordic peoples, allowing them show more to "fade into the majority population." He calls this process Black-No-More, and puts it within reach of the masses.

This book is deeply, deeply, deeply cynical, which is not something I was expecting given that it is categorized as science fiction. I thought there would be more discussion/exploration of the change of identity that goes along with the change of race, but instead the focus is on how the "color line" is a false flag; that those who are invested in fanning the flames of hatred because it lines their pockets will find new and more insidious ways of doing it, and how the political class will twist it to their advantage. In this novel, Black society collapses because the masses want to be white. The old white guard doesn't like this, because they don't have an obvious enemy anymore: they can't point poor/lower class whites to the other races anymore as a scapegoat for all their ills. The KKK dies out, but another, worse organization takes its place, whipping up paranoia and hysteria, turning man against man because who can know if they were ever "pure" white or are an interloper into the race? The desire for, and ability to prove, racial purity absolutely explodes.

There are no winners here; every character in the book is horrible. The first American Black man to "change races" immediately starts working for the nu-KKK in the worst kind of example of pulling the ladder up behind him. He only cares about how much money he can make, no who or what will be hurt in the process. Not even the prospect of his wife having a black baby (because the process only leaches the skin of the person, it doesn't change their DNA) is enough to slow him down. How awful.

Perhaps the worst part of all is that this novel very grimly predicts the future. How little has changed since the 1930s. Politicians and "the elite" have it all too easy in turning people of the same classes against each other based on something that no one can control or even see. The only thing the author didn't predict was the switch of Southerners from Democrats to Republicans in the 1960s - swap the labels in this book's future scenario and it's all too real and ugly. show less

How does one deal with the race problem in America? In "Black No More", George Schuyler's Dr. Junius Crookman has the answer. Convinced that the race issue can be amended if there simply were no more Black people, for the sum of $50, Crookman offers his people the chance to change from Black to white, using a mysterious process. His program causes quite the stir; African-Americans are lined up around the block to get the treatment. One of Crookman's first patients is a man named Max Disher, show more a restless salesman who's tired of the difficulties of life as a Black man, especially his lack of access to white women. Once he crosses the color line, he ingratiates himself with a Klan-esuqe racial purity group, and discovers that life on the white side isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Meanwhile, the entire country is thrown into an uproar as the Black population slowly dissipates. Black leaders are left without their loyal constituents, whites are frantic about racial mixing, and no one is sure who anyone is anymore. As Crookman's operation expands into a multibillion dollar business, the backlash against his procedure grows, and the racial status quo in America becomes even more confusing. The whole affair comes to an ironic, cyclic end, one that promises to be just as problematic as the beginning.
This has to be one of the funniest books I've read in a while, a prime example of satire at its finest. It's not "ha-ha" funny, but Schuyler's acerbic, relentless style is on-point. His critique of various historical figures is flawless, and there is no question as to who he's actually talking about. No one is safe from Schuyler's criticisms. I found myself going "Oh!" and chuckling at his descriptions frequently throughout the book. He lampoons white racists for their hypocrisies and stupidity, as well as the blue-blooded white power structure for initializing and feeding off of structural racism. But he also finds fault with African-American social and political leaders; he accuses them of exploiting average African-Americans for their personal gain, while keeping them stuck in a cycle of complacency.
Schuyler tackles a lot of issues within the work, exposing the flaws in the ideology of white supremacy and racial superiority. He also discusses the destructive nature of colorism within the Black community, the way that politics are used to pit people against one another, the economic trap that many Blacks are caught in, and general lack of knowledge. An important idea that he rejects is the one that treats Black people as if something is wrong with them, and supports total assimilation and absorption into the dominant culture as the way to avoid racial conflict and strife. Schuyler also presents some interesting facts and hypotheticals. He challenges widely-held ideas about "Negro dialect" and "Negroid features", shows that nearly everyone has been touched by the "tar brush", so to speak, and poses that without Black people, American culture and life is not American anymore. He also criticizes that many Black leaders, though talking about the uplift of all Black people, tended to have wives who were nearly white, something that is still relevant today.
In terms of pacing, the book is brisk, and can be read in one sitting. The author is very precise in what he includes and excludes; if he doesn't see it has having any bearing on the story, it's not there. Ultimately, this works to the novel's advantage. Nonetheless, it does raise a number of questions. For example, why does Dr. Crookman not use the machine on himself, if he's so anxious to "solve" the race problem? Although his victims...err...patients are changed into white people, they only have one phenotype to choose from, blond hair and blue eyes. Why didn't Dr. Crookman factor in other phenotypes of hair and eye color, to cut down on any suspicion about these newly minted whites? I also would have liked to hear more from the resistance, those African-Americans who were proud of the way they looked and refused to blanch their skin. Schuyler mentions them briefly towards the end of the novel and doesn't mention them again. The book was published in 1931, but there is no mention of the Depression (to be fair, the reality of the economic situation may not have sunk in yet). The turnaround of the lower-class Givens family at the end of the book was not very believable either, as they were such vitriolic racists. Indeed, Schuyler seems somewhat more lenient towards these poor, ignorant whites than he is of the white elites, the latter of whom he blames for influencing the former's attitudes.
It is interesting to contrast Schuyler's viewpoint in the novel with his personal life. He was an avowed conservative, a pupil of Mencken, and ironically exhibited many of the character traits that he condemned in others, including his choice of a mate. Because of this, one can understand his harshness in dealing with his Black contemporaries, and his contempt for certain aspects of Black culture. Schuyler offers no solutions to the problem, nor does he offer any hope that some things may improve over time, his faith in human nature is that jaded. So jaded in fact, that Schuyler believes that were such a procedure invented, only a few thousand African-Americans would refuse it.
One of the amazing things about this book is that the plot is perfectly plausible. Although not described in detail, it's hinted that the doctor's method relies heavily on inducing vitiligo in his patients, with some possible intense dermabrasion. With the continued emphasis on skin color, as well as the medical/technological advancements made today, I'm convinced that if this process existed, there would definitely be people saving their money for it. Frankly, I don't want to find out. Reading this book was more than enough. show less