Black No More

A really interesting concept shared in this 1931 classic book by George Schulyer called Black No More.  At the height of the racial divide in the United States, Schulyer, an African American journalist who held some socialist views, shares the challenges facing black members of society by offering this satirical work.  The story shares how Max Disher transforms his life when noted scientist, Dr. Crookman, offers a new scientific technique to change all features of black people to become Caucasian!  Max has just left a New Year’s Eve dinner event where he approached a single white woman for a dance and is rebuffed because of his skin color.  After years of being held down by society, Max is the first one in line with his $50 to attempt the procedure (which takes three days to complete).  Alas!  Max walks out as the new “Matthew Fisher,” a white man, sells his story to the local magazine, takes the money and heads to Atlanta to start a new life.  As Matthew Fischer, he gets involved in an organization that attempts to keep white and black people separate, meets the leader (a former KKK leader), gets hired to run the new initiatives, and ends up marrying the man’s daughter (who is the same woman who rejected him at the nightclub in NYC on New Year’s Eve!).  The two marry and of course life doesn’t end happily ever after.  One challenge with the new process of changing skin color is that babies revert to the dominate genes of the parent, so for many children, having the dominate gene will mean the child will be born with black skin and features of black people.  Luckily for Max, his old friend from Harlem, Bunny, also heads south (after becoming white) and helps Max during numerous challenges he faces with the birth of a child, the running for political office, and assisting with the merger with a neo-conservative group who wants to rid the nation of the new procedure and of blacks in society.  Wow, a lot here.  While I won’t give away the ending on this one, I will say, Schuyler’s work is utter brilliance!  What a concept to make us appreciate the differences and how frightening it would be for us to “remove” humans because they look, or think a certain way.  In the novel, as the country becomes more white, there is no longer visible a “lower class” of people to be pawns for the elite white of the day.  Schuyler also presents in the development of the Presidential election caricatures of prominent black leaders of the day.  A great social commentary of the day which could be replaced with filling in the “blank” for other groups who are oppressed as well, though we clearly have yet to “solve” the issue of race relations in this nation.  I encourage all leaders to think through the implications suggested in this novel and what can we do as a society to ensure we don’t go down this road of making everyone “the same,” because in the end, we just aren’t.  We need to appreciate the differences and move on.  Reads as a simple shorter story, but there is a lot of nuggets in this one that has me thinking over and over where we are today.  Thanks for suggesting.