41 pages • 1 hour read
George SchuylerBlack No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1931A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
In Atlanta, Max is now known as Matthew Fisher. In the three months since his arrival to Atlanta, he has searched for the red-haired woman he met at the cabaret on New Year’s Eve. Though he himself has experienced twinges of disappointment and nostalgia for his old life upon entering the world of white people, Matthew is surprised at the negativity inspired by Dr. Crookman’s treatment. His confusion stems from the fact that the treatment’s goal is to rid society of black people, a goal he assumes most white people desire. Matthew determines that the dissatisfaction has to do with the fact that the treatment “was more of a menace to white business than to white labor” (36). On the Monday after Easter Sunday, Matthew sees an advertisement in the local newspaper for a meeting of the Knights of Nordica, led by Rev. Givens formerly of the Ku Klux Klan, and he wonders if the meeting might offer him an opportunity to make some money.
Matthew walks to Rev. Givens’ office, introducing himself as an anthropologist from New York City and requesting a meeting with Rev. Givens, who had grown wealthy by embezzling money from the KKK. When Matthew meets the reverend, he talks of the “menace” (39) that is the Black-No-More treatment, offering his services to the Knights of Nordica and appealing to the reverend’s predictable sense of duty to his fellow white people. Rev. Givens suggests that Matthew attend the meeting taking place that evening, demonstrating a keen interest in Matthew’s fictitious scientific expertise. Matthew agrees and goes back to his hotel, feeling excited about the possibility of making money; that night, after dinner, he asks a local acquaintance about Rev. Givens, and learns that the reverend is widely perceived as an “old crook” (40). Rev. Givens has also left the meeting in an optimistic mood, and he tells his wife about Matthew, describing him as a scientist and an expert on race-related activities in New York.
When Rev. Givens insists that she and their daughter Helen attend the evening’s meeting in order to hear Matthew speak, Mrs. Givens laments her daughter’s focus on secular activities. Despite her own lack of Christian qualities, Mrs. Givens identifies as a Christian and expects God-fearing behavior of others. According to the narrator, Helen is unlike her parents in her statuesque beauty, but rather similar to her parents in her lack of intelligence and education. Helen agrees to attend the evening’s meeting, where Matthew makes an hour-long speech about the threat of Black-No-More to the sanctity of white women and whiteness in general. After Matthew finishes his talk, he sees Helen in the audience and recognizes her as the woman he had met at the cabaret a few months earlier. Matthew asks the reverend about her and learns that she is his daughter; after a twinge of disappointment at seeing her at a white supremacist meeting, he feels only delight as Rev. Givens offers to introduce them.
Chapter 5 Summary
A private plane lands in Los Angeles, where a team of mechanics observe Dr. Crookman and his two investors disembark while discussing their wish that the Knights of Nordica “do something” (48) about the prevalence of the Black-No-More treatment. From the pilot, a Senegalese man, the mechanics learn that the doctor is on a national tour to inspect his range of 50 sanitariums.
Dr. Crookman, Foster, Johnson and others meet in a Los Angeles office space to discuss the last seven and a half months. The sanitariums have taken in more than $18 million, and the doctor predicts that the numbers will double in the four months to come. The doctor speaks not only of the success and the growth of Black-No-More, but also of the significant opposition he faces; government officials in Washington have attempted to pass legislation to put them out of business. The three directors of the company as well as the three regional directors talk over the future of the business. The narrator identifies them all as “good Race men” (50), no matter that they have all undergone Dr. Crookman’s treatment.
As Dr. Crookman’s business flourishes, “Negro society was in turmoil and chaos” (51). Social and fraternal groups have lapsed, black-owned businesses are slowing down, and the general sense of black solidarity has evaporated thanks to Black-No-More. Black culture has quieted, particularly in the South, where black people have fled to northern cities to undergo the treatment. The Manhattan offices of the National Social Equality League, a militant black organization, are in a panic as their sources of income dry up; now that there are fewer black people, fewer persecutory anti-black incidents that warrant opposition and the requisite funding have been taking place. For this reason, the National Social Equality League seeks to undo Dr. Crookman’s success, which is why they have summoned black leaders to a December conference.
The founder of the league, Dr. Shakespeare Agamemnon Beard, has recently drawn up a resolution to send to the U.S. Attorney General. Attending the meeting are the league’s president, Dr. Jackson, a researcher named Mr. Williams, and several other white men “of remote Negro ancestry” (57). They discuss the consequences of the Black-No-More phenomenon: The church communities are dissolving, the needs for social work around racial issues are evaporating, and perhaps worst of all, the donations to the National Social Equality League (NSEL) are shrinking. The group decide to send the resolution to the Attorney General. When the Attorney General receives the resolution, news of which has already been published in the papers, he responds by writing a letter to the NSEL containing an explanation that he has no ability to intervene as Dr. Crookman’s business is perfectly legal. The Attorney General asks that the press be made aware of his response.
Meanwhile, Santop Licorice, the dishonest head of the Back-to-Africa Society, an organization who supports “the emigration of all the American Negroes to America” (62), reacts to the exchange between the NSEL and the Attorney General with glee. The organization, which has never actually transported anyone to Africa despite their fleet of steamships, is also losing money. Licorice makes a plan to go to Atlanta after sending a wire telegram to Rev. Givens, much to the surprise of his secretary; she questions his communication with the reverend, a man who hates black people, and he responds by suggesting she not ask questions if she wants to be paid.
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
Max is now in Atlanta, and he has changed his name to Matthew. In these chapters, Matthew’s future as a fixture of the Knights of Nordica, a white supremacist organization, becomes apparent as he puts his talents for manipulation into practice. Thematically, racism, the mutability of human nature, and the potential for humans to indulge in greed and other moral weaknesses are at the forefront of these chapters.
After Matthew introduces himself to Rev. Givens, he is careful to do his own research about the leader of the Knights of Nordica. Though Rev. Givens is known as a crook throughout the community, Matthew appears to understand this criticism of the man as a positive characteristic, one that implies there is money to be made if he is to link himself to Rev. Givens. Matthew’s own greed comes into play here, and his first speech to the Knights of Nordica, full of racist diatribes and nonsensical claims, is a great success. Schuyler’s application of white stereotypes in this situation is thorough; the members of the white supremacist organization are gullible and easy to lead, much like their leader, Rev. Givens, which gives Matthew the confidence to carry out the first of his many schemes.
Schuyler’s characterization of Matthew puts on display an exploration of the theme of changeability. Matthew’s potential for mutability becomes apparent when he spots the woman from New Year’s Eve in the audience at the Knights of Nordica auditorium. He is first thrilled to see her, and then disappointed to see she is a white supremacist, though he knows all too well how capable she is of racist behavior. Matthew’s speedy emotional changes confirm he is a man of simple needs despite his shrewd and canny ways with others; she is beautiful, he is young, all is forgiven. Matthew has low expectations of himself and of others, and perhaps this philosophy of life is one that enables him to live contentedly as an imposter in his new circumstances.
Chapter 5 exposes the greed and the obsession with money that afflict organizations that claim to support the black community and promote pride. In this chapter, the character of Dr. Beard reveals a parody of the black leader and founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), established in 1909. As well, Santop Licorice is a parody of Jamaican activist Marcus Garvey, who is credited with the establishment of the “Back to Africa” movement in the United States and with encouraging black Americans to celebrate their culture by visiting their genealogical homeland of Africa. Like Licorice, Garvey offered black Americans transportation to Africa, but he was arrested for fraud around the stock shares connected to his Black Star Line of ships.
