The Blacker the Berry...

by Wallace Thurman

One of the most widely read and controversial works of the Harlem Renaissance, The Blacker the Berry...was the first novel to openly explore prejudice within the Black community. This pioneering novel found a way beyond the bondage of Blackness in American life to a new meaning in truth and beauty.

Emma Lou Brown's dark complexion is a source of sorrow and humiliation -- not only to herself, but to her lighter-skinned family and friends and to the white community of Boise, Idaho, her home-town. As a young woman, Emma travels to New York's Harlem, hoping to find a safe haven in the Black Mecca of the 1920s. Wallace Thurman re-creates this legendary time and place in rich detail, describing Emma's visits to nightclubs and dance halls and house-rent parties, her sex life and her catastrophic love affairs, her dreams and her disillusions -- and the momentous decision she makes in order to survive.

A lost classic of Black American literature, The Blacker the Berry...is a compelling portrait of the destructive depth of racial bias in this country. A new introduction by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip, author of The Sweeter the Juice, highlights the timelessness of the issues of race and skin color in America.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Race, Historical Fiction, African American, Anti Racist, African American Literature

221 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

Wallace Henry Thurman (1902–1934) was an American novelist active during the Harlem Renaissance. He also wrote essays, worked as an editor, and was a publisher of short-lived newspapers and literary journals. He is best known for his novel The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life (1929), which explores discrimination within the black community based on skin color, with lighter skin being more highly valued.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Your literary companion to tonight's highly anticipated Kendrick concert that also has some football game happening in the periphery or something
Kendrick Lamar made me read it! His song "The Blacker the Berry" was inspired by this classic Harlem Renaissance novel, and when you know Lamar's lyrics and read Thurman's text, you realize how these two works of art are reinforcing each other, and the effect is truly amazing.

Thurman's book was first published 1929 and is a critique of a topic that has remained controversial until this day: Colorism, meaning the "prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color" (Alice Walker). The protagonist Emma Lou has very dark skin, a physical trait that is perceived as undesirable by her lighter family members and many other people she encounters. The novel talks about her experiences growing up in Idaho, studying in California and later working in Harlem, how people treat her and what it does to her psyche. Emma Lou wants to belong, but due to the society she is living in, she has a hard time finding herself and her place in the world.

Although I am pretty sure the expression didn't exist back then, Thurman takes an intersectional view and also shows how the factors of gender, class, and wealth play into the design of communities and affect Emma Lou's situation. The story seems to be highly influenced by the life of Wallace Thurman himself, who was not only dark-skinned like Emma Lou, but also struggled for acceptance as a homosexual man.

I was surprised that the excellent foreword of the new edition, written by Stanford Professor Allyson Hobbs, also mentions Kendrick Lamar's song. She writes: "Thurman's novel reveals the interracial conflict that results from living in a racist America; almost ninety years later, Lamar's focus is the racist system itself", and dissects some of his lyrics - great stuff.

So thanks, Mr. Lamar, for pointing this book out to me, I will soon go on to read Roots: The Saga of an American Family while listening to "King Kunta"!

[Ina Cawl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always wondered why Western authors who happened to visit my country from Richard Burton to Karen Blixen always claimed that Somali were far more superior to other African although they didn’t give reason for that superiority.
And after reading this book it made me more color conscious than ever, did those authors made their assertion because Somali had less thick lip than other Africans? Or they made their assertion because Somali have smoother hair than the African people? Or maybe Somali skin color are lighter due to inter marriage with Arabs and Europeans than other hinterland Africans and for this they can claim to be special than Africans.
Who does light skin, brown eyes, more pointed nose and more smooth hair made you believe to be superior to people who happened to be more colored and have been blessed with more darker skin
Reading this novel made me get a glimpse of what it means to black in lighter skin society, from the Bantu who live in southern part of my country and who still face prejudice and discrimination because he is more black than the usual Somali to Darfur where Arabized African attack other native Africans
But this book doesn’t talk about the supposed superiority of Arabized Africans or mixed race individuals but the focus of the novel is how lighter skin people treat their darker skin people within the same race.
Here comes Wallace Thurman novel which was published in 1929 which tells the story of Emma Lou who is African American girl who faced systematic racism from her race just because she were more black than her what her family wanted her to be
What struck me in the novel was from the start you are told what fate wait our narrator
“More acutely than ever before Emma Lou began to feel that her luscious black complexion was somewhat of a liability, and that her marked color variation from the other people in her environment was a decided curse. “
Her first encounter with racism would come with from within her family who treated as curse because she were more darker than her family was and the family motto was “Whiter and whiter every generation,” she deviated from their goal and as a result was treated badly just for being more blacker than family .
Getting tired of her mother and grandmother racism she tries to run away from home to university where she beliefs that intra racial racism is something from provincial and it wouldn’t happen in big cities let alone in University but after being shunned from every club meeting her collage had she would run out to Harlem where she develop hypersensitivity and become more aware of her status and develops inferiority superiority complex and starts to treat men with the same racism she used to hate and fight against.
And eventually tired of self-hate and self-pitying she resolves to change but also accept who she is
“We are all living in a totally white world, where all standards are the standards of the white man, and where almost invariably what the white man does is right, and what the black man does is wrong, unless it is precedented by something a white man has done.”

“ What she needed to do now was to accept her black skin as being real and unchangeable, to realize that certain things were, had been, and would be, and with this in mind begin life anew, always fighting, not so much for acceptance by other people, but for acceptance of herself by herself .”

[Jonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Octavia, for this recommendation and introduction to the Harlem Renaissance. This is the first book I've read by an author from the Harlem Renaissance and I would recommend to anyone who is looking to learn more about it.

The novel is primarily focused on Emma Lou's coming of age and evolution of her color consciousness. The novel was written/published in the late 1920s. It is still relevant almost 100 years later. It is a commentary and examination of "colorism" and color consciousness (today we talk about racial consciousness). The "colorism" and intra-race racism and segregation are still issues people face today.

At its most broken down and basic, the bottom line is: the lighter/whiter you are the more opportunity you have. This is the source of internal and external conflict. No matter what shade the person was, they continually judged others based on their color, especially anyone darker than them. Marriages were sought to find a partner that would produce lighter skinned children in the hopes of "passing" and being accepted as white.

These issues have been explored in many books, but my guess is, this may be one of the first. The Personal Librarian is an excellent example of "passing". I recently read The Brightest Star: A Historical Novel Based on the True Story of Anna May Wong. I highly recommend it. She was told she was too Asian to portray Asian characters, therefore white actress performed in "yellow face". Face coloring of performers is also in The Blacker the Berry.

Black and Asian communities are confronted by similar challenges, prejudices, and limited opportunity. Lightening of skin color is one way the people/characters tried to "pass", reduce prejudice, and increase opportunity. Emma Lou tried "bleaching, scouring, and powdering". Sadly, this is not a thing of the past.

The novel is divided into three sections, each portraying Emma Lou's (slow) development and understanding of herself and her relationship with her color. She blames everything-how people treat her, the lack of friends, etc. on her color, when in reality it is her lack of social awareness, her feelings of superiority, and looking for "the right" people. She leaves Boise for college in LA. She leaves LA for work in Harlem. As we know, our thoughts, actions, behaviors, and problems don't change with a new location.

I often felt frustrated with Emma Lou repeatedly following the same path and returning to old ways. She can continue this repeating the cycle or make a change. Both possible endings reflect what happens in real life. Thankfully, she finally "awakens" and has a self realization. It was a very satisfying ending and worthwhile read.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Toni Morrison wrote The Bluest Eye, she says that she wanted to “hit the raw nerve of racial self-contempt, expose it, then soothe it.” Just as Emma Lou, the main character in this novel, wishes she had lighter skin, Pecola, the main character in The Bluest Eye wishes she had blue eyes. When I read about Emma Lou, I think of Helga, Irene, and Clare in Quicksand and Passing, all characters living with decisions stemmed from racial self-contempt and survival in a society constructed around race. Emma Lou “was always trying to emphasize those things about her that seemed, somehow, to atone for her despised darkness, and she never faced the mirror without speculating upon how good-looking she might have been had she not been so black.”

Emma Lou’s journey is magnetic. She is beguiling and uncompromising, intelligent yet foolish, independent and gullible, self-deprecating but also toplofty. Emma Lou is all those things that both intrigue and astound me as a reader. She leaves home because she is unloved by her family and community, shunned because her dark skin threatens her family's position in society. She moves to Los Angeles, finds no respite, scorns a man who actually loves and respects her, and ends up in Harlem where she falls in love with a gigolo.

In the scholastic introduction, Allyson Hobbs mentions The Blacker the Berry is not read or cited as often as other books from the Harlem Renaissance era. Although I have read many books from that era, even my first reading of Thurman was his Infants of the Spring (but I'm not a fan of satire and I did not find the prose there to be as honest and captivating as it is here). Thurman’s depiction in this novel is this simple, as one of his characters explains, “in an environment where there are so many color-prejudiced whites, there are bound to be a number of color-prejudiced blacks.”

Emma Lou is not the most likable character. Her self-destructiveness emerges in her disdain and treatment of others and in some ways reminds me of Rufus in Another Country, “Emma Lou was essentially a snob. She had absorbed this trait from the very people who had sought to exclude her from their presence.” Just as society’s ridicule of Emma Lou is shown vividly, so is her disdain of others shown shrewdly.

Hobbs writes that W.E.B. Du Bois did not like Thurman’s “depictions of less refined African Americans,” but Langston Hughes sent Thurman a telegram with the message, "your potential soars like a kite breaking patterns for Negro writers.” Then again, Hughes, who traveled the world, visited Africa, and believed in the literary art as a form of expression and acceptance also wrote, “We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame…We know we are beautiful. And ugly too.”

Thurman’s elucidation of colorism and sexual desire is probably near to his heart, for as a dark-skinned writer, he longed to belong. He had issues around his sexuality when he was jailed for sexual interactions with another man and his wife divorced him. Thurman found himself ostracized from “polite society,” just as Emma Lou was. There is no resolution for Emma Lou, and one wonders if there was ever any resolution for Thurman, who died so young, a man in his thirties.

[Octavia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So Happy for another newfound Harlem Renaissance Author! Wallace Thurman originally published this story in 1929 and it is definitely one to be called, “Magnetizing.” From the very first page, I became so intrigued with this author’s straightword narrative of Emma Lou. This is an interesting novel to be remembered regarding colorism: How people can suffer from colorism, internalize colorism, how colorism can be perpetuated also. Oh, there is more…



Grateful to add this Memorable Author and novel Classic my Reading Challenge 💜.


Excerpts:
“The tragedy of her life was that she was too black.”

“Emma Lou had been born in a semi-white world , totally surrounded by an all-white one, and those few dark elements that had forced their way in had either been shooed away or else greeted with whom she came into contact most frequent contact to ridicule or revile any black person or object. ear-black cat was a harbinger of bad luck, back crepe was the insignia of mourning, and black people were wither evil ni**ers with poisonous blue gums or else typical
vaudeville darkies. It seemed as if the people in their world never went halfway in their recognition or reception of things black, for these things seemed always to call forth only the most extreme emotional reactions. They never provoked mere smiles or mere melancholy; rather they were the signal either for boisterous guffaws or pain-induced and tear-attended grief. Emma Lou had been becoming interestingly aware of this for a long time, but her immature mind had never completely grasped its full, and to her, tragic, significance.”


“Their (mulattos) motto must be “Whiter and whiter every generation,” until the grandchildren of the blue veins could easily go over into the white race and become assimilated so that problems of race would plague them no more.”

I will make sure to purchase a copy of this Gem💜.

* Wallace Thurman wrote his first novel at the age of 10 years old.

[Hannah Greendale (Hello, Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"More acutely than ever before Emma Lou began to feel that her luscious black complexion was somewhat of a liability, and that her marked color variation from the other people in her environment was a decided curse."

The Blacker the Berry is a work of satire that primarily follows Emma Lou, a young Black woman with a much darker complexion than everyone in her family (save for her father whom no one in the family speaks well of). It's a revelatory narrative of learned intra-racism and prejudice as well a tragic story of internalized racial shame.

What makes this book even more interesting is that when it was first published in 1929, author Wallace Thurman had done something taboo in saying out loud what was privately acknowledged but never publicly discussed: that colorism (i.e., discrimination based on skin tone) existed in the Black community. In the introduction to the book, Therman B. O'Daniel says of this:

"Even years ago when the story was written, there was certainly nothing unusual about novels about the prejudice of white people against black people. [...] But the fact that this book gives us a vividly described double dose of the color bias, with particular emphasis upon the prejudice of certain Negroes against black persons within their own racial group, was unique, and it was this element specifically, that made the novel different."

With its revelations about colorism, its glimpses of life during the Harlem Renaissance, and its redemptive conclusion, The Blacker the Berry is an informative and heartbreaking yet hopeful read, one that would be fascinating to explore in a university setting.

--

I'm grateful to BookTuber Denise La Rosa of La Rosa Reads for bringing this book to my attention in her video 12 Classics by 12 Black Authors.

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and just as relevant today as it was all those years ago.
The book hits the nail on the head on color coding and prejudice in our community, particularly on how self loathing plays itself out - how we turn on each other both light skinned and dark skinned, and how the need to white-up is presented in ways we may not be conscious of

Although practiced in our black community here in USA, other books suggest that this is not confined to our community here - see the other Book of the Month The Sabi that shows how this happens in Africa too.
To some extent I appreciate the frank writing that these books shine on matters that we actually have control over. They deal in uncomfortable truths about us that many of us would not rather talk about

Great book

[Jin · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Im Prinzip war ihr alles einerlei, denn für ein derart schwarzes Mädchen gab es sowieso nirgends auf der Welt einen Platz."

Man muss sich mal überlegen wie frappierend ähnlich die heutige Situation mit der von damals ist, dabei wurde das Buch in 1929 geschrieben! Wie frustrierend es ist, dass sich nicht sehr viel geändert hat. Klar, es ist besser geworden, aber ich gehe mal davon aus, dass die Hautfarbe immer noch einer der Hauptpunkte ist um direkt beim ersten Blick in eine Kategorie gesteckt zu werden. (Das ist meine persönliche Vermutung, falls es nicht so sein sollte entschuldige ich mich. Ich kenne es jedenfalls von meiner asiatischen Welt, dass weiße Haut einen sehr hohen Stellenwert hat (man siehe die ganzen Whitening Creams usw.)).

Die Frage der Rasse und auch die Stellung insbesondere als schwarze Frau mit sehr dunkler Hautfarbe werden hier intensiv behandelt anhand von Emma Lou, die seit ihrer Kindheit daran leidet, dass sie eine sehr dunkle Hautfarbe hat. Die Naivität und auch Beschränkung durch ihre Sichtweise werden sehr überzeugend dargestellt und auch die Nebencharaktere sind sehr gut gewählt um nochmal die Diskrepanz und Leidensweg zwischen den Menschen mit verschiedener Hautfarbe aufzuzeigen. Sie fühlt sich allein gelassen und nirgendwo zugehörig, was am Ende dazu führt, dass sie immer tiefer fällt ohne scheinbar ein Ausweg zu finden. Ich fand das offene Ende gut, weil man sich dann selbst vorstellen kann (bzw. wünschen kann) wie es mit Emma Lou weiter geht.

""Is'n los, Louis? Verliebt oder so was?"
Emma Lou grinste: "Höchstens in mich selbst.""

In etwas über 200 Seiten schafft Wallace Thurman schon seit 1929 eine Seite der Gesellschaft zu zeigen über die immer noch wenig gesprochen wird. Die Kategorisierung innerhalb der eigenen Community und keinen Ort des Rückzugs zu haben kann Menschen extrem zerrütten und zerstören. Ich kannte das Buch vorher nicht, aber ich bin froh es gelesen zu haben. Die 5 Sterne sind besonders für die Thematik und Darstellung der Charaktere gedacht, dessen Intimität und Ehrlichkeit der Gedanken und Dialoge. Dass so ein Buch bereits 1929 publiziert wurde, fasziniert mich immer noch!

** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emma Lou hates herself because of her dark skin tone. She soon discovers that the discrimination she receives is the same discrimination she uses towards others. This is her journey as she tries to find acceptance in her community and within herself.

This book was published in 1929 and almost 100 years later this story still resonates so loudly. Color Consciousness is alive and thriving in the black community. This is a classic gem from the Harlem Renaissance. 

[Quan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ehhhhh...It's one of those books that is important for its historical impact. And you know everyone wants to get behind it for its positive message, which, don't get me wrong, is a good message. Buuuuuut...

The good thing about the writing is that it makes for a quick, easy read. But the quality of the writing is pretty weak. It's like a corny "message" song that thinks simply having a message is excuse enough to not be very artful about delivering that message. The books tells more than it shows, especially with its use of ironic/sarcastic tone which just comes off as kinda douche-y. The tone makes it hard to care about any of the characters. The main character, Emma Lou, shows no growth until like 10 pages before the end of the novel. And I'd also add that last section of the novel really tried to pour on the cheese and it sucked.

The saving grace was just the info and historical context it revealed about black culture and how cultural attitudes had evolved from survival tactics employed in the slavery era. Interesting stuff.

[Londa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A yellow gal rides in a limousine
A brown-skin rides in a Ford,
A black girl rides an old jackass,
But she gets there, yes, my Lord.

America 1920's and Emma Lou Morgan is 'color-conscious' She is a dark complexioned yong black woman, who has never loved or even appreciated the rich hue of her skin.

She has been verbally abused, discriminated against, and shunned because of it. She can't seem to find her place in the world and it all seems to start with the color of her skin.

It would be easy to assume that all of her suffering must have been caused by whites, but that assumption would be incorrect. Thurman's novel focuses on colorism within the Black race.

This book was met with criticism when it was first written. This is not a topic that is comfortable to discuss, then or now. However, the issues it shines light on, are still sadly prevalent 85 years later.

Emma Lou was not an easy character to like. Her mind has been so poisoned by her family and her circumstances, that she ends up practicing the same prejudices that have been played out upon her. She comes across as snobbish and rude. The way the novel is written, the reader will spend a lot of time listening to her thoughts and emotional ponderings. Her flaws, although irritating, serve to make Emma Lou very 'real'. I may not have 'liked' Emma Lou, but I certainly believed in her as a character.

The poem I quoted above was performed by a fair skinned black chorus girl performing in a musical review that Emma Lou attended. The chorus girl was performing in 'black-face'

Reading this novel, I asked myself several times "Are the dark girls still riding on the back of that jackass?" "How far have we come?" Documentaries like Dark Girls are testament to the fact that the answer is "Not far enough."

I recommend this novel to anyone who is interested in colorism. It may have been written over 85 years ago, but the issues are still as relevant and important as they were then.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a famous novel, written ninety-five years ago, that addresses intra-racial prejudice and in particular the different skin tones of black people. Although the protagonist is a woman, this book is clearly autobiographical. The three main cities are the three that Wallace Thurman lived in and his own experiences as a dark skinned black man were personalized through the protagonist.

This is both a nuanced and forthcoming book that addresses racism. Its setting in the 1920's Harlem Renaissance gives it more relevance and it feels quite real.

While I cared for the protagonist and there was a strong arc, the story telling does not make use of much dialogue or imagery. So the author commits the sin of telling the readers rather than showing the readers. In the end Thurman does not measure up to his greatest contemporaries, e.g. Richard Wright, as he died quite young from tuberculosis but the book is certainly worth reading.

4 stars

[nina okechukwu · Rating 5 out of 5]

“she should have been a boy, then color of skin wouldn’t have mattered so much, for wasn’t her mother always saying that a black boy could get along, but that a black girl would never know anything but sorrow and disappointment?”

i find more comfort in books than i do in people, and this book reaffirmed exactly why i’ve always felt this. the fact that i resonate so deeply with books about black girls who wish they were white or just despise the colour of their skin really shows the kind of childhood i had and the people that i chose to spend my time with growing up. being the only black girl in the class can either teach you two things: resilience or self-hatred, and occasionally, both. emma lou hated being black; or rather, how dark she was, because black girls never make it big in the world, and dark-skinned ones are doomed from conception.

“the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice;” a phrase that’s been thrown around for years that holds a lot more weight than i ever thought to consider. the one thing that’s always annoyed me about the black community is that while when we come together we achieve great things, internalised racism is still so prevalent, to an alarming extent. the people who are supposed to stand with you are the ones saying you’re “too dark” or “too loud” and whatnot; black girls have had their femininity questioned since birth by men who are disgusted by women the same colour as their mothers, and men who fetishise the idea of being with a “chocolate darling.” black girls grow up hating their skin colour, wishing their hair was straight and easier to manage, wondering why no boy in their class looks at them the way they look at their white counterparts. black girls shouldn’t have to continuously prove their worth in compensation for their complexion

“was she supersensitive about her colour? did she encourage colour prejudice among her own people, simply by being so expectant of it?”

the fact that this book was swept under the rug during the civil rights movement makes me more irate than anything, because the only way a problem can be eradicated is if we tackle it head on. honestly it shows even more that internalised racism was, and still is, a major issue within the black community. i get that during the movement it was best for us to look like a stronger together, but even still, ignoring an issue doesn’t make it go away; it’s still alive and well today, annoyingly at that.

wallace thurman achieved something beautiful with this book. it was poignant, introspective, and almost damning in a sense that it shows we need to do more for each other. it reminded me so much of “the bluest eye” by toni morrison, another powerhouse of a book that sheds more light on internalised racism. i’ll definitely be visiting this book again soon in the future, and it’s definitely one i recommend everyone reads at least once in their life.

"we are all living in a totally white world, where all standards are the standards of the white man, and where almost invariably what the white man does is right, and what the black man does is wrong, unless it is precedented by something; white man has done."
"which," cora added scornfully, "makes it all right for light negroes to discriminate against dark ones?"
"not at all" truman objected. "it merely explains, not justifies, the evil-or rather, the fact of intra-racial segregation.”

[Cody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thurman fell from the same tree as Nabokov or Baldwin; Morrison or Flaubert or Melville or etc. blah (your fave here) et. al. e.g. i.e. cf. &c. You get me, those stentorian bastards that wrote sentences that read like Moses talked. Yes, that was all literal transcription.

There's an excess to admire here but too little to really LOVE. This is no surprise considering the era and Thurman's age at the time. I'm sure being a Black, queer, Salt Lake City born-and-raised fucking polymath—who, according to Langston Hughes, was the Vollman type that had read every single book ever written and could point out its faults—did not help steady his authorial hand's trust in conviction. Nor being the ONLY Black kid in his high school...that's through ALL of his high school years. Shit, one can't blame the guy for not striking out like a firebrand on the page—he was living that reality as a consequence of simply being himself. Not shockingly, thing’s weren’t always the easiest for him.

The tragedy is that this treasure of the Harlem Renaissance (better than the European one; evidence: jazz; case: closed) is busily being forgotten by time, and so too Wallace Thurman. Dead from TB at all of 32, he only has two other works he contributed before checking out way too soon. Read it and imagine what this superbrain would have evolved into. Damn you, tuberculosis!

[Sasha]

Mentioned on this super interesting list. (How many have you read? I'm at 38.)

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is, by far, one of my favorite reads. It really digs deep into the social, moral, and mental issues plaguing the late 19th/early 20th century Negro-American. For me, it displays for the reader an uninhibited view of the duplicity of the Negro state of mind, how it affected the Negro family, and how it weakened the Negro community. It gives a deeper, more poignant interpretation of the color divide among one race of people and a foreboding insight into the issues faced by the 21st century African-American.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice old Negro folk saying

A yellow girl rides in a limousine, a brown-skin girl rides a Ford, a black girl rides an old jackass, but she gets there. Yes, my Lord Wallace Thurman's version and similar lyric of Henry Thomas of a blues-set piece of 1929 "Charmin' Betsy"

There was nothing quite so silly as the creed of the blue veins: Whiter and Whiter, every generation. The near white you are, the more white people will respect you. Therefore, all light Negroes marry light Negroes. Continue to do so generation after generation, and eventually white people will accept this racially, bastard aristocracy, thus enabling those Negroes who really matter to escape the social and economic inferiority of the American Negro.According to Emma Lou's maternal Uncle Joe

This is a short, fictional novella by Wallace Thurman, an author of Harlem Renaissance period. Thurman did not live long, but this is one of his most influential works. It is the story of Emma Lou Morgan of Boise, ID. Emma Lou is the daughter of a single-parent household of would-be socialites in the black community where she lived. What made the family socialites in their minds was the hue of their complexions. Emma's mother and grandmother were of yellow coloring, but Emma Lou was not. She was cursed with the hue of her father.

Emma began to realize although she accepted within the black upper social circles of Boise, she was treated differently. Her hair texture was fine, it was somewhat semi straight, but her color did not fit her very limited social community. Her mother had wished that Emma had been born a boy as then color wouldn't have mattered so much. A black boy could get along. A black girl would never know anything but sorrow and disappointment.

Hue was the curse that Emma was physical and psychological curse that Emma Lou felt that she had to bear while growing up in school, in college, in work, in social life and more importantly, instilled upon her at home.

Around other blacks, Negroes during the period of this book, Emma Lou was a snob, a trait she picked up from her social circle. She took it to California with her during her college years. She found that those Negroes at university were just a snobbish and some had wealth that her airs would not allow her to join their social circle. In fact, she was consumed with acceptance with the "right" crowd, it allowed her to overshadow the purposes for going to college ---- broadening her horizons and escaping Boise.

Emma, after returning to Boise, later moved to Harlem, NYC. It was there that she ran into a larger and more diverse and educated community than she had encountered in California. Again, she allowed her air of superiority cloud her judgment in making friends and choosing mates. She allowed hue to cloud her judgment. It is called living life on the edge --- the emotional, psychological and financial.

Emma's choosing of a mate nearly broke her. She was not one to listen, in spite of being warned that her perceptions of people based on hue would eventually might be her demise.

[Bridget's Quiet Corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

WARNING: I DO CURSE IN THIS AND GO ON A BIT OF A RANT...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

4.5/5 stars

The only reason this book got a 4.5/5 stars was because there were some moments I got bored...but other than that, it was a wonderful book that had me ticked off so many times throughout this book.

Why you may ask?

Well, because even during the 1920's when this book took place, the hatred for yourself because of your skin tone, especially if you were a dark skin woman or man, was just frustrating...And to see that same mess happening in 2015. The fact that people still harp on that light skin dark skin bull shit grates on me. I mean, come on...When the hell are we going to get the hell over it?!?! I mean really? Yes, we as people have our preferences, that's fine, but to down someone because they're "too dark" and praise for someone who is "high yella" or brown skin?!?! Or even down someone who is light/high yella just for the sake of the old mentality of times that date back to slavery.

When will this damn mentality leave? When will parents stop teaching their kids that its a bad thing to be dark? Or that being High Yella is a good thing? Or that high yella women are stuck up and all about themselves? Not all of us, regardless of skin tone are the same!

I, as a "high yella" woman was and still can be very self conscious of my skin tone because people always made a big deal out of it..and I never saw what the damn big deal was...and I still don't. But I don't want you making me feel less than either because Im light and you are attracted to darker tone women. Just like I do my best to not make anyone else feel less than because I dont see the big damn deal and "high yella" men and women. Yes, I have my preferences when it comes to dating men, but my preferences are so far stretched that it can't really be a big deal.

In a nut shell, as wonderful as this book is, it helped to fuel how pissed off I get with the stupid skin tone bull shit! Let that shit go! I see beauty in all shades...And I personally do find darker skin tones beautiful...Forget what society teaches you and learn to accept and love you for who the hell you are...From the lightest to the darkest! We need to figure out how to let that mess go and move the hell forward! Stop with the Dumb Shit!

Now, what I can say is, I am glad to see Emma Lou's growth by the end of this book and willing to start working on loving who she is and accepting her skin tone. And finally just letting go and just start allowing things to take its course in life....I am proud she got her back bone when it came to handling some things by the end of the book...

#Done

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wallace Thurman was a very brave person to shed light on a little known "dirty little secret" within the African American race.A secret which still exist today even though his book was first published in 1929.To say the less,it's a "doozy".Focusing on Emma Lou's "Crime & Punishment".The Crime of being born to a family of mulattoes who wanted to keep the blue veins DNA for generations to come.She was considered a "blue black"within the family.Her Mother,Grandmother and most all her relatives said her crime was being too black.Her Punishment was to go through life with the idea that she would never amount to anything as a result of her dark skin.Emma Lou in fact was her worst enemy.

Taken from the folk-saying "the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice," its title was ironic, for the novel was an attack on prejudice within the race.When she attends school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles she again is scorned, so she travels to Harlem, where she believes that she won't be snubbed because of her dark coloring.She uses hair straighteners and skin bleachers, and takes on the appearance and attitudes of the fairer-skinned people who degrade her.Ironically,she in turn snubs darker men, whom she thinks inferior and takes up with a man who is light-skinned but cruel.

A very historical description of that time during "The Harlem Renaissance" is painted by Thurman.In fact,his plight was exactly like Emma Lou's.Some say it was autobiographical.Indeed,I can understand why many people of color criticized this work..it was a secret only known within the race as it is STILL known today. Moving,some slow spots,overall a quick read period piece.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The protagonist was not a likable character. She hated how her family discriminated against dark skinned Blacks, yet she did the exact same thing. She was simple and ignorant and thoroughly pissed me off, yet as she grew and and faced her existence without excuse (they don't like me because of my dark skin versus they don't like me because I'm obnoxious) she became more endurable and maybe, just maybe, someone I would care no know with further exposure.

[Lisa (NY)]

[DNF at 50%] This satire certainly makes a point about prejudice within the Black community. But it is a mess of a novel. I endured a few hours of the audiobook because it’s a highly regarded classic—but I’m officially throwing in the towel.

[Nicole (Nerdish.Maddog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a classic of the Harlem Renaissance that covered the controversial aspects of colorism in the black communities of America. Emma Lou is a dark skinned black woman coming of age in Idaho with a light skinned family that views, and treats her, as a curse on them. She is sent to California for college and hopes to make her way in the world with people like her but she encounters racism from her light skinned peers, and she herself is discriminatory towards her black peers she see's as below herself. When she finds that there is no place for her in either CA of ID she moves across the country to Harlem where she believes she will finally fit in. Her struggle continues in Harlem, light skinned people are prejudiced to her and she is prejudiced to dark skinned people. She is caught in a loop of colorism, internalized trauma and societal expectations until a few people and events help push her to the other side of things. The book had me bouncing between rooting for Emma Lou and cursing her actions but in the end I left feeling like she might just have found her way. The book is full of important lessons and not just on the history of racism and colorism in America. If you want to be accepted as you are then start with accepting all people as they are. If you don't love and respect yourself then you will attract people who don't love and respect you either. It may be difficult but find your path in life so, don't follow the actions of others. Sometimes people's advice may be based on what they were taught or what they believe and it may not be suited for you. In the end colorism and racism sucks and I wish things were different.

[Craig Vasiliev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal story. Anyone who has a soul, or a heart will respond to this.

[Seward Park Branch Library, NYPL · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've taken ill, so my reviewing faculties are a bit dulled... Here goes nothing...

This is the last book in the first volume of the 'Library of America's Harlem Renaissance Novels of the 1920's'. All of the stories contained have some sort of take on black-on-black racism, though none makes this issue its central theme as Thurman does in 'The Blacker The Berry'. Our protagonist, Emma Lou, comes from a family/social circle who is progressively trying to breed whiter and whiter offspring—Emma Lou is therefore, in a round about way, seen merely as a problem child, an extension of a 'mistake', as her mother's tryst with a dark black man was only looked back upon as a mistake. This in turn informs the way she looks upon herself—like her oppressors she prefers the company of men with lighter skin, and detests crudity of behavior, which she ironically and erroneously associates with darker skin.

In a sense similar to Helga Crane in Larsen's 'Quicksand', we want to shake Emma Lou, to force some reason into her. Though Emma Lou is surely an improvement on the surly negative two dimensional character of Helga Crane. Emma Lou's story is certainly less outlandish, and on that level alone I enjoyed 'TBTB' far more than 'Quicksand'. She's a woman with a desire for intelligent company—though she may be her own worst enemy sometimes, I don't believe she ever asks for much! Emma Lou is a woman who is intimate with her simple wants, but is denied time after time despite good intentions. Helga was more of a wanderer, and I tend to have little sympathy with that type of character...

Later in his short career, Thurman writes a satire on the figures of the Harlem Renaissance, 'Infants of the Spring'. Though I haven't yet read it, I'm guessing that the reader gets a glimpse into this in the chapter 'Rent Party', where the reader delights in Emma Lou's offended conservatism. It is certainly the most vibrant chapter. I for one was hoping for a little more of what I found in 'Rent Party'...

On the subject of satire, this is a very, very sad novel. Yet there's definitely a dry sense of humor to it. Negotiating between the two can be great fun. Still, besides 'Rent Party' and the incredibly dark final chapter, 'Pyrrhic Victory', the writing is very point-A-to-point-B. Thurman's brilliant moments, however, are enough to make me interested in the rest of his regrettably short oeuvre.

—AF

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm only on page 50 of this novel and it's already struck a nerve with me.

As a black gay man I can totally relate to the alienation Emma Lou experiences first hand from her own community. She because of her exceptionally dark skin (this internal racism still exist today within the black community) and myself because of my openness with my sexuality (a homosexual black man is considered the scourge of the black community).

For a novel written in 1929 it is amazingly relevant in today's society as well.

A must read for any black person who is struggling to find their place in the black community.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wallace Thurman is such a striking writer--his style, particularly in this novel, is vivid, near-hypnotic, and this book is a mixture of racial/social critique, sordid melodrama, and a US travel narrative following protagonist Emma Lou's trials in early adulthood. The Blacker the Berry analyzes American colorism, particularly within the African American community, especially inside intellectual circles and/or in Harlem of the early 20th century. Emma Lou is admittedly an infuriating character (as her internalized self-hatred and desire for those who would "naturally" shun her leads her to make the same mistakes in different cities), but I found her to be overwhelmingly sympathetic and engaging. Helga Crane of Nella Larsen's Quicksand is, in my estimation, an analogous character in terms of a polarizing heroine. The book is worth reading for Part 4 alone ("Rent Party") for Thurman's (clear) inclusion and spoofing of infamous and influential Harlem residents/luminaries like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Bruce Nugent.

[Chelle𓆏 · Rating 5 out of 5]

That last page 😢😭😭

This was a reread that I read for a read-a-thon and is one of my favorite books of all time. I love this book so very dearly! I first read it when I was 14, having taken it from my mom’s book stash (which she is never getting back) and even loved it then!

This book was first published in the 1920’s and it takes place in the 1920’s as well. This tells the story of Emma Lou and her struggles with being a dark skinned woman. Her skin is very black, making her an outsider to her own family members, who are light or brown skinned. From family members to strangers and even lovers there is a resentment held towards her because of this. Since Emma isn’t happy at home she takes her uncle’s advice and starts college out in Los Angeles (her family resides in Boise). She wants to become accepted by and meet other “highly intelligent black folks” such as herself. The author does mention in the book that Emma is a snob. But when that doesn’t work out she heads to New York City to begin work and finds herself even more unhappy and unsatisfied.

Along the way we meet another character named Alva who becomes Emma’s first real love interest. Alva is mulatto and Filipino, being described as having warm, yellow skin. Alva takes a liking to Emma, she listens to him and he shows his affection to her in public amongst disapproving stares. But even though this sounds all well and good, he still has pity for her. Later in the story they have a falling out due to their opinions on race and Emma’s “conscious colored mind”. After all this Emma still remains in love with Alva, but is it enough to stick around and watch his own downfall?

This is such a fucking sad story! Between what Emma has to wrongfully go through to her relationship with Alva it just really, physically, pained me and thinking of that last page kills me 😭 It hurts guys. Though I love this book I wouldn’t be quick to recommend it because I don’t think it would be everyone’s “taste”. This book impacted me heavily but I doubt it would do the same for others. I love me a sad book and this is a top 5. I can’t wait to reread it again... and again.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thurman gehört zu den führenden Vertretern der Harlem Renaissance; seine – zumindest meines Erachtens – bekannteste Zeitgenössin war Zora Neale Hurston.

"The Blacker the Berry", Thurmans erster Roman, thematisiert rassistische Konflikte innerhalb der afroamerikanischen Bevölkerung.

In seiner Rolle als Wegbereiter muss man Thurman zu schätzen wissen, denn dieser Roman ließt sich schnell, fließt mit einer psychologischen Leichtigkeit dahin und bleibt auf einer gewissen Oberflächlichkeit ruhen, was ihn – für einen ganz kurzen Moment – als Unterhaltungsliteratur kategorisieren würde. Ich dachte zunächst an Judy Blume oder Kate Chopin, da die Innenperspektiven der Protagonisten mit einer gewissen Selbstverständlichkeit, einer Naivität dargestellt werden.

Allerdings ist die Art Thurmans, kein Blatt vor den Mund zu nehmen, faszinierend, mutig und beeindruckend. Seine zutiefst von Unsicherheit, Vorurteilen und dunklen Gedanken geprägten schwarzen Figuren zu folgen und ihren Werdegang in Harlem zu beobachten; wie sie in den meisten Fällen an den eigenen Dämonen zu Neige gehen – der komplexe Verschnitt an Figuren mit diversen Hintergründen, Hautfarben und Vorurteilen gegenüber ihren Nachbarn, Mitschülern und sogar den eigenen Kindern ist sowohl kulturhistorisch als auch psychologisch hochgradig faszinierend und sogleich erschreckend.

Auch bekannte Tatsachen, wenn so klar und deutlich auf Papier dargestellt, sind immer wieder und erneut schockierend: so verhält es sich nach der Lektüre mit der Reflexion über die auf den ersten Blick einförmigen Geschichten der jungen Protagonisten.

Wer sich für die Harlem Renaissance oder für schwarze Geschichte interessiert, sollte diesen Roman gelesen haben.

Nicht weniger bereichernd sind die beigefügten Nachwörter und Ergänzungen der Übersetzerin zum Autor, zum Kontext und zu den sprachlichen Besonderheiten dieses Romans.

Eine wahrhaft wichtige und empfehlenswerte Lektüre!

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blown away by how much ground this book covers. I think if you ask any stranger on the street about the Harlem Renaissance, they'll think of jazz, and it being coined the 'Black Mecca' during the 20's and 30's. Thurman uses that assumption, then paints a much more cruel picture of reality through a dark-skinned Black woman, Emma Lou. 

Colorism is the major theme throughout this book, and there are so many ways to name someone who is not-white. "Colored", "Persons of color", "Black", "Negro", "Mulatto", "Yaller", "[redacted]". How Thurman describes the dynamics between those within the black community is a timeless portrayal. Particularly when it came to Emma Lou's characterization and how she viewed herself, I thought this was really artfully done. She is called either "wench" or "mammy" and cannot meet anyone's expectations, and is constantly humiliated through no fault of her own, though she does take that internally. But I was immensely relieved by the triumphant ending. 

I think everyone should read this. The writing style is easy to follow and sharp. Another side note about this book is that I found the themes of sexuality and promiscuity to be quite fascinating, from the not-so-subtle queer-coding of Alva, the casual drop of the term 'Lesbian', and that landlord that tried to make Emma Lou one of her 'girls'. I'm sure there's the line to be drawn between the sexualization of black people, but I think the overall sexual liberation of the Harlem Renaissance doesn't get as much attention when discussing this era. 

[Adrienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was on the book club choices with LFPC, however, it was not selected for the month. Yet, I still wanted to read it. I asked my dad if he read it and said yes.

Emma Lou was darker than her mulatto, or mixed parents. Unsure who she took back from, but I know Black race comes in all different shades or colors. Some things sadden me in this novel since it is the case today. "People of color didn't associate with blacks in the Caribbean Island (should also add Africans, since I know some Nigerians treat black women especially differently) p. 85). No one liked black anyway...in the wanted ads say light colored girls for hire, and light colored preferred because the children are afraid of black folks yet expect them to do the work for the white people in this book or back during this time era (85).

Intriguing, interesting story. I enjoyed the reading in 3 settings.