“It is a difficult thing for a white man to learn what a colored man really thinks; because, generally, with the latter an additional and different light must be brought to bear on what he thinks; and his thoughts are often influenced by considerations so delicate and subtle that it would be impossible for him to confess or explain them to one of the opposite race.” ― James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man “A lifetime of being Negroes in the United States had convinced them that there was great advantage in being white.” ― George S. Schuyler, Black No More James Weldon Johnson and George Schuyler explore the aspects of being a Black man in America in their respective works. Johnson taking the perspective of a colored man who chooses to pass for white and Schuyler, in his satire, of a Black man who undergoes an experimental procedure to become white. These two books examine the status and realities of being Black in America at the turn of the 20th century.