The Blacker the Berry... - Wallace Thurman (Spoilers)

Ever since I read Infants of the Spring for last year's Harlem Renaissance Reading Challenge, I've been dying to read this book, and I am really glad I did. The story of Emma Lou Brown's struggle against not only her ingrained disdain of dark skin, but the community prejudice she faces as a young woman with dark skin, is both personal and universal. Emma Lou is not necessarily the easiest character to sympathize with, but at the same time, her more annoying characteristics are so much the result of internalized self-hatred that it's impossible not to. The single saddest moment, in my opinion, is when she receives the anonymous note from her coworkers telling her to stop powdering her face, because they think it looks ridiculous. However, the end of the book seems hopeful, and I do hope that the rest of her life is improved, mainly through an improvement of her own self-esteem at the expense of those people who would keep her down because of a physical characteristic. Highly Recommended.