The Legacy of Conservative Black Journalist George Schuyler

At age 17, he enlisted in the army, ascending to first lieutenant in the all-​black 25th U.S. Infantry Division. In 1918, while stationed in Hawaii, he saw just how pervasive racism was in the military, including official discrimination against black officers and violence between white civilians and black soldiers. In disgust, he went AWOL, though he later turned himself in and served nine months of a five-​year sentence for desertion. He was then honorably discharged from the army in 1919.

After his discharge, Schumer held a number of menial jobs and for a short time was considered homeless. Later, he joined the Socialist Party of America as well as the Friends of Negro Freedom, a competitor with the NAACP founded by A. Philip Randolph that was focused on labor organizing.

Schuyler became intrigued with socialist and communist ideas through his voracious appetite for reading. For many blacks, socialism was an attractive alternative to the prevailing segregation and discrimination they were experiencing in an ostensibly capitalist society.

Schuyler, however, later grew critical of these philosophies, viewing them as a corrupt, manipulative tool used to control and discipline Black Americans through dictatorial methods. In a 1968 opine for American Opinion, Schuyler offered:

In the 1920s, Schuyler embarked on a career in journalism, writing for a number of both black and white-​owned publications. Known for his biting sarcasm and controversial views, he was often referred to as “The Black H.L. Mencken,” a reference to the highly acclaimed, white American journalist and cultural critic. Over time, Schuyler built a deep personal friendship with Mencken, who was then the editor of the American Mercury and who published Schuyler’s anti-​racist work in the publication.

In 1926, Schuyler began writing for a number of other publications, including the Pittsburgh Courier, at the time one of the largest black newspapers in the United States. For over 30 years, he was a senior editorial writer for the paper, with his commentary reaching the black masses on both a daily and weekly basis.

That same year, he published an article for The Nation entitled “The Negro-​Art Hokum,” which offered a scathing critique of the exploding cultural movement known as the Harlem Renaissance. In a point directed at Langston Hughes, a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Schumer opined, “Aside from his colour, which ranges from very dark brown to pink, your American Negro is just plain American.”

Schuyler’s criticism of the Harlem Renaissance was rooted in his belief that Black Americans were first and foremost Americans, asserting that racial identity had little to do with national identity. This view often brought Schuyler into conflict with other civil rights activists.

In 1928, Schuyler met and married Josephine Cogdell, daughter of a prominent white cattleman and banker in Dallas, Texas. An occasional writer and one-​time beauty pageant contestant, Josephine shared with George many intellectual, artistic, and cultural interests, including jazz dancing and classical music.

The couple had a daughter, Phillipa, who was born in 1931 and who reportedly could read and write by the age of two. By the age of five, she was composing classical music pieces. Later she began performing on the radio, including a concert appearance at the 1939 New York World’s Fair at the age of eight. As she became older, Phillipa began performing outside of the U.S. in order to break free from the racial restrictions that often prevented her from booking concerts in the states.

Despite his conservative views, George Schuyler remained active in a number of prominent civil rights organizations, including the NAACP. Running counter to the views of many in the early civil rights movement, Schuyler was an ardent critic of forced integration, viewing it as morally wrong and as equally unacceptable as compulsory segregation was during the Jim Crow era.

Over the course of his life, he established himself as a vocal anti-​communist critic, especially during World War II and the Cold War years. He frequently traveled the U.S. for invited talks, exposing the realities of black life and race relations in America.

An acclaimed book author, in 1931 Schuyler published his controversial magnum opus, Black No More, a novel where he chronicles a new chemical discovery that can transform a black person into a white person. It was fiction, of course, but it dealt with a serious theme, wondering what would happen to race relations in America if black people were suddenly turned white, if the physical marker of exclusion were removed.

Schuyler’s conservative beliefs were no barrier to his willingness to issue blistering critiques of all forms of ethnic and racial exclusion in America. Notably, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he lambasted the government policy of rounding up and interning Japanese Americans. As a result, the FBI surveilled him under the belief that his subversive views threatened the war effort.

In the early 50’s, amid the investigations fueled by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Schuyler’s politics became extremely conservative; he went so far as to condemn Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, and even Martin Luther King Jr. in articles he penned for the conservative John Birch Society’s magazine American Opinion.

Amid growing U.S. racial barriers and her own internal conflict tied to her bi-​racial identity, Schuyler’s daughter Phillipa decided to set her music aside to follow her father into journalism. She began her career as a reporter and foreign correspondent for a conservative publication in New England.

In 1967, while on assignment in South Vietnam, she assisted in efforts to evacuate Vietnamese orphans who were under threat from a Vietcong attack. The helicopter she was aboard crashed into the sea. Unable to swim, she drowned before rescuers could reach her. She was 35. Two years later, Josephine committed suicide on the anniversary of her daughter’s death.

In his later years, George Schuyler’s conservative views cost him his role at the Pittsburgh Courier as scores of subscribers threatened to pull their subscriptions in protest of his columns. Despite his unpopularity, Schuyler continued to espouse anti-​racism while upholding the importance of individual liberty, free enterprise, and equality. He died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1977 at the age of 82.