Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free

The motif of skin color is integral to the novel. Schuyler offers the reader detailed physical descriptions of his characters, and the most significant physical detail is reliably the characters’ skin colors. The prominence of this literary motif parallels the significance of skin color in the regions and cities in which the action of the novel takes place; in Harlem, black skin dominates, until Dr. Crookman’s invention arrives, and in Atlanta and Richmond, white skin dominates. 

Schuyler’s discussion of the new fashions around biracial skin color is an interesting commentary on the nature of popular thought in America. Though Black-No-More lightened the complexions of much of the American population, even more problems resulted; white racists soon looked askance at members of their own groups, wondering who had experienced the transformation and were blacks disguised as whites. The animosity and violence that ensued was calmed by the increasing popularity of biracial skin color, and people with pale complexions sought, ironically, to darken them with the sun and with cosmetic products. Where whiteness was once praised and sought after, darkness is now the ideal look.