The Blacker the Berry Book

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"!