The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life

This section introduces two new characters, roommates Alva and Braxton. The men live in a state of disorganized semi-squalor, and their apartment is littered with liquor bottles, empty glasses, and other evidence of a wild night. Although both are employed, they regularly struggle to pay their rent. Alva, the son of a woman with a diverse racial background and a Filipino father, works as a presser in a costume house. He is short but has broad shoulders and is fair-skinned.

Emma Lou, having failed to find secretarial work, is now a personal maid to Arline Strange, a white actress playing the diverse racial role of Carmen in a local production set in Harlem. Arline’s brother is in town to see her performance, and she wants Emma Lou to show him around Harlem. She is astounded that Emma Lou has not been to any of the famed neighborhood cabarets, and Emma Lou privately reflects on the “stupidity” of white people who do not realize that venues such as the Cotton Club allow Black performers but not Black patrons. While watching Arline and the other white performers play the roles of Black characters, Emma Lou scans the