57 pages 1 hour read

Wallace Thurman

The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1929

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Essay Topics

1.

How does Emma Lou represent The Hypocrisy of Colorism in Black Communities? How does she both experience racial prejudice in the form of colorism and show evidence of having internalized colorism herself?

2.

Discuss the way that Emma Lou responds to the Black beauty standards of her era. How does racism help shape prevailing ideas of beauty in Black communities?

3.

How do men and women in The Blacker the Berry experience colorism differently? Are men and women subject to the same kinds of colorist prejudice? If not, how?