Racism and Oppression
Black No More begins in 1933 when Dr. Junius Crookman, a Black scientist, discovers a treatment to turn Black Americans white by changing their skin color, hair, and other features. Among the thousands and then millions of Black Americans who get the treatment, there is no discernible difference between them and people who were born white. Crookman thus illustrates that any distinction in physical appearance is superficial—a radical idea at the time, as white…
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Race, Class, and Power
Black No More illustrates that much of the United States’ political and financial hierarchies are based in stoking racial division. For example, white politicians in the book fundraise and run on the promise of keeping white society racially pure; Dr. Crookman makes thousands of dollars on a treatment that makes Black people more like white people; and Max Disher, a Black character who turns white, use the white working class’s hatred of Black workers…
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Ignorance
Black No More is author George Schuyler’s deeply critical and satirical assessment of ignorant people—whom he identifies as those who blindly accept any ideology. He particularly focuses on the “white masses”—largely working class, Southern, rural, and Evangelical—as having little moral integrity but a deep desire to feel superior to others. (Though he also makes a few references to the same critiques of the Black working class.) He illustrates how people who accept ideologies blindly are…
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Identity and Deception
Many of the characters in Black No More lie about or misrepresent their identities. For example, many Black characters take the Black-No-More treatment and turn white, taking on new personas. Other characters throughout the book misrepresent their racial makeup—whether to exaggerate their white heritage or their Black heritage. Some are simply unaware of the truth about their identity, like the many white characters with Black ancestry who do not realize this fact until the end…
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Leadership and Hypocrisy
One of the most striking things about Black No More is not only that it satirizes white society’s reaction to Black Americans becoming white, but also that it contains caricatures of many of the real-life Black leaders at the time. At the National Social Equality League meeting in the book (which stands in for the real-life NAACP), a group of Black leaders attempts to figure out how to get Black people to maintain pride in…
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