The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life

“She should have been born 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?”

This passage illustrates the intersection of racism and Black beauty standards. Emma Lou has internalized the colorism of her family members and community and does not feel that Black women can be beautiful if they have dark complexions. This amounts to a double standard as Black men are not judged quite as harshly. Because men play broader roles in society than women do, it is permissible for Black men to have dark skin. Women are valued primarily for their bodies and their roles as wives and mothers, meaning their physical appearance is valued more.

“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 derisive laughter. It was the custom always of those with whom she came into the most frequent contact to ridicule or revile any black person or object. A black cat was a harbinger of bad luck, black crape was the insignia of mourning.”

This passage illustrates the pervasiveness of white supremacy in American society. Although she, her family members, and her community are all primarily Black, they grow up with the same values, standards, and norms of the majority white society. Because there is so much racism in American society as a whole, it creeps into communities of color. Blackness, in this passage, symbolizes perceived undesirability, and Thurman uses that symbol repeatedly in this text.

“Emma Lou’s grandmother was the founder and the acknowledged leader of Boise’s blue veins, and she guarded its exclusiveness passionately and jealously. Were they not a superior class? Were they not a very high type of Negro, comparable to the persons of color group in the West Indies? And were they not entitled, ipso facto, to more respect and opportunity and social acceptance than the more pure blooded Negroes? In their veins was some of the best blood of the South. They were closely akin to the only true aristocrats in the United States. Even the slave masters had been aware of and acknowledged in some measure their superiority. Having some of Marse George’s blood in their veins set them apart from ordinary Negroes at birth.”

This passage depicts The Hypocrisy of Colorism in Black Communities, specifically within Emma Lou’s family and community and shows the origins of Emma Lou’s own colorist beliefs. Problematically, her grandmother asserts here that enslavers coercing and raping enslaved women resulted in privileged genetics, and she argues that having the blood of such enslavers in their veins elevates their family above Black Americans without white ancestry.

“Emma Lou was essentially a snob. She had absorbed this trait from the very people who sought to exclude her from their presence. All of her life she had heard talk of ‘right sort of people’ and of ‘the people who really mattered,’ and from these phrases she had formed a mental image of those to whom they applied […] Emma Lou was determined to become associated only with those people who really mattered, northerners like herself or superior southerners, if there were any, who were different from whites only in so far as skin color was concerned.”

This passage further illustrates Emma Lou’s colorism, and it should be noted that skin color is linked here to class. Black Americans with lighter skin tones, in Emma Lou’s opinion, are automatically privileged, and the “right sort” of people are necessarily educated and white. Emma Lou wants desperately to be part of this group of people, even though it typically excludes women with darker complexions such as hers. This shows the complexity of internalized colorism: Emma Lou has been trained to value an identity that she cannot, by virtue of her dark skin, embody.

“All of the Negro leaders and members of the upper class were either light-skinned themselves or had light-skinned wives. A wife of a dark complexion was considered a handicap unless she was particularly charming, wealthy, or beautiful. An ordinary looking dark woman was no suitable mate for a Negro of prominence.”

This passage illustrates racism within Black beauty standards in that it explains the way women were seen as desirable only if they had light skin. This is a way that white supremacist ideology weaves its way even into Black culture, for lightness as a beauty standard has its roots in white culture.

“She climbed out of bed, picked up a brush from the bureau and attempted to smooth the sensuous disorder of her hair. She had just had it bobbed, boyishly bobbed because she thought this style narrowed and enhanced the fulsome lines of her facial features. She 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.”

This passage depicts Emma Lou’s struggle with racism and Black beauty standards. She has internalized her mother’s beliefs that girls with darker skin tones cannot be beautiful, so she constantly tries to find ways to maximize what she feels are her better features. This quest for beauty in spite of her dark skin color consumes her, and passages such as this one can be found throughout the text.

“Friendly concern—there had been less of that, and malicious, meddlesome gossip, of which there had been plenty. And she still found herself unable to understand why two sets of people in two entirely different communities should seemingly become almost hysterically excited because she, a woman of twenty-one, with three years’ college training and ample sophistication in the ways of sex and self-support, had decided to take a job as an actress’ maid in order to get to New York. They had never seemed interested in her before.”

This passage illustrates the cultural dominance of Black respectability politics within both Emma Lou’s home community in Boise and at USC. The people in these two communities value assimilation, morality, and “decency” above all else and judge Emma Lou for moving alone to Harlem, where she is no doubt surrounded by “promiscuity,” alcohol, and laziness.

“But she was looking for a job. Sour smells assailed her nostrils once more. Rasping voices. Pleading voices. Tired voices. Domineering voice. And the insistent ring of the telephone bell all re-echoed in her head and beat against her eardrums. She must have staggered, for a passing youth eyed her curiously, and shouted to no one in particular, ‘oh, no, now,’ Someone else laughed. They thought she was drunk. Tears blurred her eyes, she wanted to run, but resolutely she kept her steady, slow pace, lifted her head a little higher, and seeing another employment agency, faltered for a moment, then went in.”

This passage illustrates the chaotic, frenetic pace of Harlem life in the 1920s and 1930s. The language itself mirrors the fast-paced street scene. It is markedly different from the pace and tone of the first section and establishes Harlem as an entirely different space from the one in which she grew up. The language here mimics the syncopated rhythm of jazz and is emblematic of much of the writing produced of and about Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance.

“The door to the cubby hole opened and the girl Mr. Brown had called Grace came out. The expression on her face was too business-like to be natural. It seemed as if it had been placed there for a purpose. She walked toward Emma Lou who got up and stood like a child, waiting for punishment and hoping all the while that it will dissipate itself in threats. The typewriter was stilled and Emma Lou could feel an extra pair of eyes looking at her. The girl drew close and then spoke: I’m sorry, Miss. Mr. Brown says he has someone else in view for the job. We’ll call the agency. Thank you for coming in.” Thank her for coming in? What could she say? What should she say? The girl was smiling at her, but Emma Lou noticed that her fair skin was flushed and that her eyes danced nervously.”

Although Grace does not explicitly give colorism as the reason Emma Lou is not hired, Emma Lou understands that they didn’t hire her because of her darker skin tone. The imagery in the last passage emphasizes the difference between Emma Lou and Grace: Grace’s skin is light enough to show redness from blushing, and she seems anxious. When Emma Lou returns to the employment office, she will be informed that, because of her skin color, she is unlikely to find a “congenial” secretarial position and should consider entering a teachers college.

“Emma Lou experienced a feeling of resentment, then, realizing how ridiculous it all was, smiled it away and began to think of John once more. She wondered why she had submitted herself to him. Was it cold-blooded payment for his kind chaperoning? Something like that. John wasn’t her type. He was too pudgy and dark, too obviously an ex-cotton-picker from Georgia. He was unlettered and she couldn’t stand for that, for she liked intelligent-looking, slender, light-brown-skinned men, like, well…like the one who was just passing. She admired him boldly. He looked at her, then over her, and passed on.”

This passage is one of many in which Blackness symbolizes perceived “undesirability.” Because of John’s darker skin tone, Emma Lou rejects him as a serious romantic partner. Emma Lou has internalized the ideology of colorism to such a degree that, even though she and John have similarly dark skin, she finds him unappealing.

“They saw Emma Lou and her reflection in the sunlit show window. The one closest to her cleared his throat and crooned out, loud enough for her to hear, ‘There’s a girl for you, Fats.’ ‘Fats’ was the one in the middle. He had a rotund form and a coffee-colored face. He was in his shirt sleeves and carried his coat on his arm. Bell bottom trousers hid all save the tips of his shiny tan shoes. ‘Fats’ was looking at Emma Lou, too, but as he passed, he turned his eyes from her and broadcast a withering look at the lad who had spoken: ‘Man, you know I don’t haul no coal.’ There was loud laughter and the trio merrily clicked their metal-cornered heels on the sun-baked pavement as they moved away.”

This passage illustrates racism within Black beauty standards. The young men Emma Lou passes on the street notice her, appraise her, and find her unappealing because of her dark skin. They describe her with insulting pejoratives and ridicule the very idea of dating her. Experiences such as these both form and perpetuate Emma Lou’s self-hatred, and through them, Thurman condemns colorism in Black communities.

“Emma Lou, all of her, watched and listened. As they approached her table, she sat as one mesmerized. Something in her seemed to be trying to give way. Her insides were stirred, and tingled. The fat, chocolate colored girl leaned over the table, her hand touched his, she exercised the muscles of her stomach, muttered a guttural thank you in between notes and moved away, moaning ‘Muddy Waters,’ rolling her eyes, shaking her hips.”

This passage illustrates the hypnotic power of jazz. In it, Emma Lou finds herself mesmerized not only by the music but its performers, one of them herself a woman with a dark skin tone. Jazz, as a new form of African American music, represents the possibility of a new Black cultural identity and a new way of interacting with the world. Jazz rejects respectability politics, innovates, and improvises. Emma Lou’s introductions to jazz represent the possibility of forging an identity based not on her family’s prejudices and social conventions but on her own experiences, values, and beliefs.

“In a moment they were swallowed up in the jazz whirlpool. Long strides were impossible. There were too many other legs striding for free motion in that over populated area. He held her close to him; the contours of her body fitting his. The two highballs had made her giddy. She seemed to be glowing inside. The soft lights and the music suggested abandon and intrigue. They said nothing to one another. She noticed that her partner’s face seemed alive with some inner ecstasy. It must be the music, though Emma Lou. Then she got a whiff of his liquor-laden breath.”

This is another key passage that illustrates the way Thurman uses jazz as a motif. Emma Lou, despite her dark skin tone, has found a dance partner and is swept up in the power of a new form of music and the possibility of a new life in Harlem. The scent of liquor on his breath hints that interactions such as these have hidden dark sides, foreshadowing how Alva uses Emma Lou instead of loving her.

“She had decided to bleach her skin as much as possible. She had bought many creams and skin preparations, and had tried to remember the various bleaching aids she had heard of throughout her life.”

This passage illustrates the way that racism manifests in Black beauty standards. Even among Black women, there is a clear preference for light skin, and Emma Lou is so frustrated by her feelings of inadequacy that she has chosen to chemically lighten her skin.

“She saw many men on the street, many well dressed, seemingly cultured, pleasingly colored men and boys. They seemed to congregate in certain places, and stand there all the day. She found herself wondering when and where they worked, and how they could afford to dress so well. She began to admire their well-formed bodies and gloried in the way their trousers fit their shapely limbs and in the way they walked, bringing their heels down so firmly and so noisily on the pavement. Rubber heels were out of fashion. Hard heels, with metal heel plates, were the mode of the day. The corner loafers were so care-free always smiling, eyes always bright. She loved to hear them laugh, and loved to watch them, when without any seeming provocation, they would cute a few dance steps or do a jig.”

This passage depicts the development of a new Black cultural identity and establishes Harlem as the cultural center of that new Black identity. Emma Lou is mesmerized by these men, who look nothing like the men she grew up with in Boise. Such scenes of street life in Harlem are important markers of both the historical era and its literature.

“As I was saying, Truman continued, you can’t blame light Negroes for being prejudiced against dark ones. All of you know that white is the symbol of everything pure and good, whether that everything be concrete or abstract. Ivory soap is advertised as being ninety-nine and some fraction percent pure, and Ivory Soap is white. Moreover, virtue and virginity are always represented as being clothed in white garments. Then, too, the God we, or rather most Negroes worship is a patriarchal white man, seated on a white throne, in a spotless white Heaven, radiant with white streets and white-apparelled angels eating white honey and drinking white milk.”

This passage illustrates the way that Blackness is used symbolically within this text and American literature and culture as a whole. Truman notes the preponderance of instances in which Blackness is coded negatively and argues that because of this, Americans—white and Black—cannot help but internalize the idea that whiteness is preferable to Blackness.

“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.”

This passage explains that despite segregation, Black communities are still subject to white standards because white people make up the majority of the American population. Black Americans such as Emma Lou grow up steeped in white and Black culture, and they cannot help but internalize the norms, practices, and beliefs of the group that holds the most cultural and political power.

“You see, people have to feel superior to something, and there is scant satisfaction in feeling superior to domestic animals or steel machines that one can train or utilize. It is much more pleasing to pick out some individual or some group of individuals on the same plane to feel superior to. This is almost necessary when one is a member of a supposedly despised, mistreated minority group.”

This passage explains the roots of colorism among Black Americans. Although colorism arose from white supremacy, Truman explains here how it made its way into Black culture. The idea of oppressed people creating divisions among themselves is prevalent in other philosophies dealing with oppression and can be seen in feminist, Marxist, and postcolonial writings as well.

“As I said before, Negroes are, after all, human beings, and they are subject to be influenced and controlled by the same forces and factors that influence and control other human beings. In an environment where there are so many color-prejudiced whites, there are bound to be a number of color-prejudiced blacks.”

This is the novel’s only overt explanation for colorism, and because it comes from Truman, who is a thinly-veiled facsimile of Thurman, it can be interpreted as Thurman’s own understanding of the origins of colorism. It is the thematic core of the novel and one of its most important passages.

“Truman turned to Emma Lou who, all this while, had been sitting there with Alva’s arm around her, every muscle in her body feeling as if it wanted to twitch, not knowing whether to be sad or to be angry. She couldn’t comprehend all of this talk. She couldn’t see how all these people could sit down and so dispassionately discuss something that seemed particularly tragic to her.”

This passage shows the extent of trauma that colorism has caused for Emma Lou. Truman’s speech is the first in the novel that unpacks and explains colorism; Truman has not attempted to justify or defend it, merely to show how it works in Black societies. Emma Lou cannot comprehend such an exposition, and because she is so accustomed to being the target of colorist racism, she assumes that Truman is obliquely criticizing her.

“Campbell Kitchen, like many other white artists and intellectuals, had become interested in Harlem. The Negro and all things negroid had become a fad, and Harlem had become a shrine to which feverish pilgrimages were in order. Campbell Kitchen, along with Carl Van Vechten, was one of the leading spirits in this ‘Explore Harlem; Know the Negro’ crusade. He, unlike many others, was quite sincere in his desire to exploit those things in Negro life which he presumed would eventually win for the Negro a more comfortable position in American life.”

This passage is illustrative of the interest that many prominent white intellectuals had in Black culture and individuals during the Harlem Renaissance. Thurman directly mentions Carl Van Vechten here, who was perhaps the most famous Black-focused white intellectual of the era. The character of Kitchen Campbell was modeled on Van Vechten, a connection made explicit in this passage focused on Campbell. The language in this passage such as “exploit” and “negroid” emphasizes that white interest in Black culture is not necessarily innocent or antiracist; many white people used Black culture for their own self-interest, whether to rebel against the establishment or profit from Black art. This can be seen in jazz clubs that banned Black patrons, a historical reality mentioned in the novel.

“Then on Sundays they would attend church. At first, they attended a different church every Sunday, but finally took to attending St. Mark’s A.M.E. Church on St. Nicholas Avenue regularly. This was one of the largest and most high-toned churches in Harlem. Emma Lou liked to go here and both she and Gwendolyn enjoyed sitting in the congregation, observing the fine clothes and triumphal entries of its members. They too they soon became interested in the various organizations which the church sponsored for young people. They attended the meetings of a literary society every Thursday evening, and joined the young people’s bible class which met every Tuesday evening.”

This passage illustrates the broad appeal and reach of the Black church during the Harlem Renaissance period and depicts Emma Lou’s interest not only in religion but in the desirable social world that it creates. This description is focused not on church services and their ideological content but on the churchgoers’ fancy clothes and the literary club that the church sponsors.

“You mean to say that you’re going to teach school and life with that man, too? Ain’t you got no regard for your reputation? Here you’re doing just what folks say a black gal always does. Where is your intelligence and pride? I’m through with you, Emma Lou. There’s probably something in this stuff about black people being different and more low than other colored people.”

This quotation illustrates the pervasiveness of colorism. Gwendolyn was raised in a family that actively tried to treat all Black Americans fairly despite any skin color differences. Gwendolyn herself sought out the company of people with dark skin tones and often spoke out against colorism. Still, as a result of having been raised in a colorist society, Gwendolyn has internalized the notion that people with light skin are morally “superior” to people with darker skin. In spite of her friendship with Emma Lou, she resorts to this colorist stereotype during their argument.