The Blacker the Berry

‘Their 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.‘ A masterful coming-of-age tale, The Blacker the Berry remains one of the most poignant novels borne from the Harlem Renaissance. Emma Lou Morgan, a young African–American woman with dark skin, struggles to fit in. Her mother‘s family, all light-skinned from European ancestry, attempt to alter Emma‘s dark features with bleach and various creams – but nothing holds. Unaccepted by those closest to her, Emma flees her small town in favour of Los Angeles and Harlem, where people have better things to think about than her skin. But, as Emma soon learns, prejudice is a pernicious force, one which can even infiltrate those belonging to her own race. A profound insight into the consequences of colourism during the early twentieth century, The Blacker the Berry is a deeply moving account of one woman‘s search for belonging. Wallace Thurman (1902 – 1934) was an American screenwriter, novelist and essayist. A renowned figure in literary circles during the Harlem Renaissance, Thurman worked as an editor, ghostwriter and publisher during his lifetime, working with the likes of Zora Neale Hurston, Aaron Douglas and Gwendolyn B. Bennett. He died tragically young at thirty-two, after contracting tuberculosis.