#30TubeReads: Black No More by George S. Schuyler
This might be a very eccentric way to start this challenge but I tried not to cheat.
When I set myself the #30TubeReads challenge, I was hoping to have a clear judgement about at least the first book I read.
10/10 would recommend.
Need to give a box of chocolates to the person reading this book.
Skip this one!
The experience was so bad that I hated the person I spotted reading it.
Any of the above options would have worked. Instead, I’m just confused about the first book that I read. It has resulted in a mixed bag of reactions, which means I am writing the kind of review I hate: very ambiguous. But I’m going to try to do a good job anyway.
Black No More by George S Schuyler is a work of speculative fiction and dark satire about the race problem in America. It is an ambitious classic written by one of the Harlem writers. It explores themes that are, unfortunately, still highly relevant in American politics. When you start seeing parallels between a book written in the 1930s and life in the 2020s, you question how far we have come as a society.
In the introduction of the book, Schuyler explains that the name of the book originates from the then revolutionary product, Kink No More, which was meant to help tame kinky hair and make Black folks in America more Caucasian, however temporarily. This book imagines an alternative world in which a doctor, well, let’s call a spade a spade, a mad scientist called Dr Crookman, finds a way to manipulate the genes responsible for vitiligo to transform African-Americans so they can pass, almost indistinguishably, as white. All this in just three days for an unbelievably affordable price. Obviously, African Americans immediately start saving up to get the treatment, and that’s where the book takes off.
The happy-go-lucky Negro of song and story was gone forever and in his stead was a nervous, money-grubbing black, stuffing away coin in socks, impatiently awaiting a sufficient sum to pay Dr. Crookman’s fee.
The main character, Max Disher, is a charming Black man who frequents dance dives with his war buddy and pines after the white women who most often reject his advances. The book follows him as he rushes to be the first person to get the Black No More treatment to escape all the disadvantages of being Black in America. After his transformation, Max Disher becomes Matthew Fisher and takes advantage of his new white identity to not only assimilate with the whites around him but also sneak his way into a white supremacist group called the Knights of Nordic, marry the daughter of the leader who once rejected him, and make serious cash out of the same discriminatory ideologies that he was running away from. Credit where credit is due; he is an exceptionally smart guy!
Now he could go anywhere, associate with anybody, be anything he wanted to be.
The book requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief because some things about the procedure are never explained. The readers are meant to believe that the features of the person undergoing the treatment magically change races, too; dialects and languages do the same. If not for the slight hurdle that any child born of a union between a white person and a patient of Black No More will be born Black, everything is perfect. It is an effective assumption since only after this can we truly appreciate the book’s satirical elements. Schuyler’s writing style shines when he attempts to explain these slight concerns.
The Negroes have disappeared into the body of our citizenry, large numbers have intermarried with the whites and the offspring of these marriages are appearing in increasing numbers.
That was my biggest complaint about the book. The ambitions of it far exceed the execution, which is a shame because Schuyler was clearly a writer capable of enthralling his readers. The first few pages of his describing life in Harlem and the introduction of the revolutionary treatment itself are examples of this. His words bring this world to life, meaning I flew through the first 4 chapters. But then, as he moves forward and tries to fulfil his satirical aspirations, the book falls flat. By that, I don’t mean that there weren’t moments that caught me off guard and forced me to laugh out loud because that did happen quite often. But as he introduces a cast of characters so big that it’s almost like he cannot keep track of everyone, he loses the point he was trying to make. And that’s where the book disappointed me.
There are some scenes that I absolutely loved. There is a moment in the book when Max pretends to be an anthropologist entirely against the principles of Black No More in front of Rev. Givens, the founder of the Knights of Nordic, who at the end of the meeting is highly impressed but still has no idea what an anthropologist is, to begin with.
Schuyler’s exploration of how black owners of associations and corporations, supposedly against racism, were ultimately reaping the benefits of it is hilarious and sneaky. For example, the scene with the proprietor of a store to make black people appear as white as possible becomes the Vice President of the Race Pride League for the fourth time.
And, of course, the end of the book might seem simplistic to some. Still, it was hilarious to me as ‘darkening’ became a way for white people to distinguish themselves from those who had undergone the treatment. Essentially, bringing back racism after its supposed abolition.
What mattered such little things when the very foundation of civilization, white supremacy, was threatened?
And all of this is helped by Shuyler’s style of writing. The book’s central theme highlights how racism is used to divert attention away from economic disparity. The absence of black people unmasks how racial differences keep the masses occupied while the upper class takes advantage of the distraction for their benefit. He’s an astute observer.
Like most men with a vision, a plan, a program or a remedy, he fondly imagined people to be intelligent enough to accept a good thing when it was offered to them, which was conclusive evidence that he knew little about the human race.
And quite a funny guy!
Schuyler’s satire explores how capitalist corporations take advantage of the race problem. (But a bit further reading has revealed that we should take this with a pinch of salt due to Schuyler’s politics and how that influenced his writing.) Also, there is the apparent hypocrisy in the fact that Max’s desire to be with white women is played for laughs in the book. Still, Schuyler himself was married to a white heiress. There are so many avenues that Schuyler could have explored in the book, which would have probably made the reading experience much more satisfying. Still, he misses the mark because he reduces their impact by barely fleshing them out. The build-up ends with anticlimactic bullet points. I think the most prominent example is his representation of the overall reaction to the effects of Black No More from the white majority in America.
Before I get into the last point that I’d like to make, I know this book is a product of its time, and I must not judge it by the cultural ideas of today. However, Schuyler’s representation of women kept rubbing me the wrong way. Whether it was that none of the main characters were women, which is still excusable, or how the men in this book speak about women.
Matthew had won the girl of his dreams and was thoroughly satisfied, except for a slight regret that her grotesque mother wasn’t dead and some disappointment that his spouse was so much more ignorant that she was beautiful.
Some authors explore the grey aspects of life and people. Some divide characters into black and white, pun intended, based on their morals. Schuyler does neither. All his characters are flawed. He will give you a description that is supposed to convince you that the character is worthy of being mocked even before he starts mocking them. It makes for an interesting read but leaves you wanting more substance.
Several books explore similar ideas and do a better job at it. A recent book that does satire about race in America really well is The Sellout by Paul Beatty. If you want to read Harlem Renaissance writers, I highly recommend Passing by Nella Larsen and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. In a similar vein, though not by a Harlem writer, would be The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Pick up any book by Toni Morrison, especially The Bluest Eye. And if you like the idea of speculative fiction/non-fiction, I recommend you read Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Sadiya Hartman.
That’s it for the first book review of #30TubeReads! I would have to thank the person reading this book on the tube for at least introducing me to a Harlem writer I hadn’t heard of before. I wouldn’t have read this book if it hadn’t been for her and this challenge.