Black No More (1931) is a
Harlem Renaissance era
satire on American
race relations by
George S. Schuyler (pronounced Sky-ler). He targets both the
KKK and
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 process 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 known not only for its satiric bite and inventive plot machinations, but also for the caricatures of prominent figures of the American 1920s including W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, James Weldon Johnson, and others.
External link
artwork about the book