The Black Woman in Black No More

"wedded to everything black except the black woman"(35)

If Dr. Junius Crookman was a so-called "Race man", why would he not marry a black woman, or at least a black woman who could not pass for white? What is the role (if any) of the black woman in Schuyler's Black No More?

During slavery, enslaved and free black men were known to have illicit liasons with white women--deciding to stray away from their race to gain whatever opportunities they could from these women. If an enslaved or free black man were to have a child with an enslaved black woman, these children would also be slaves, because their status would be determined by their mother's. On the other hand, if an enslaved or free black man were to have a child with a white woman, these children would be considered free. In the latter case, the black man could secure that his children would not be sold off into slavery, and in some instances, would be taken care of by the white woman who he had a sexual relationship with. Unfortunately for black women, a large amount of black men chose to have sexual encounters outside of their race because slavery would be kept in the family if they did not.

The image of the black woman has long stood for strength and empowerment, which is something that we did not see from the black community in Schuyler's novel. As readers, we are never introduced to a black woman with dark skin--we are never introduced to a female who wishes to stand up for her black race and keep her brown skin. The Race men abandon their posts for money and white skin after realizing that the black community had deserted them. It has been said that black women were the heart behind the Civil Rights movement, although the media did not place a great deal of focus on them. The lack of black women in Black No More represented a lack of heart, strength, and committment to the black community itself: "the Negro women had seemingly deserted her...a revolution was taking place in Negro society"(39)