Black No More Research Paper

The Question of Race in Black No More

A Black person learns very early that his color is a disadvantage in the world of white folk. This being an unalterable circumstance, one also learn very early to make the best of it.

George S. Schuyler, Black and Conservative

George S. Schuyler, author of Black No More was born, according to Mark Gauvreau Judge was born in Rhode Island in 1885 and died in New York in 1977. Schuyler’s mother eventually remarried after the death of her first husband; the family moved to Syracuse, New York where Schuyler is taught the “protestant work ethic” of working hard for whatever he wanted to achieve (Rac(e)ing to the Right, xv). Those teachings, along with learning from his mother to read at an early age, in all

As a matter of fact, Schuyler’s main character, Max Disher used kink no more – like product. After Max is no longer black he is thankful that he does not have to use hair straightening supplies again (Black No More, 14). It is probable that the name of Schuyler’s book is based on the name of that hair straightener. It is easy to draw the similarities between the two processes. Kink No More is an outward change only (hair) as is the Black No More Treatment (skin and hair). However the difference is that that black people who receive Dr. Crookman’s treatment retain white skin and straight hair; on the other hand, the users of Kink No More must reapply the treatment every two weeks (Black No More, v). Similarly, the children born to parents that use the Black No More method would retain their parent’s DNA (which was never changed) and be black (Black No More,9). Schuyler states as well, that companies down through the years have tried to capitalize on the condition of the “downtrodden” Negro in America by offering products that would temporarily straighten hair or lighten skin (Black No More, v). The idea is expanded in Black No More to make the skin and hair color change permanent, thus relieving the Negro of the hardship that comes along with their dark complexion (Black No More, v).

As an anthropologist, he knew that there was nothing more vital than keeping the white race pure (Black No More, 38). Dr. Crookman had admitted to the press that his process did not pass down to the children of the white-looking Negroes and that their children born black would have to undergo the process (Black No More, 8 & 9). This is the fear of the white man, according to Schuyler; their children might marry one these supposed to be white people and give birth to black children, hence white blood being polluted with black blood. Their hatred for Dr. Crookman and Black No More is justified (Black No More, 35). However, Schuyler has no such regard for the fears of racists; like the character, Matthew, in Black No More, Schuyler married a white woman from the south and fathered an interracial child, additional evidence that racial purity is an impossibility in the United States. (Rac(e)ing to the Right, xxv ). From miscegenation, Schuyler believed would come a new race “neither black nor white,” solving the race problem in America (Rac(e)ing to the Right