George Schuyler facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
George Schuyler
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Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1941
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George Samuel Schuyler
February 25, 1895 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
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| Died | August 31, 1977 (aged 82) New York City, U.S.
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Josephine Lewis Cogdell
(m. 1928; died 1969) |
| Children | 2, including Philippa |
George Samuel Schuyler (born February 25, 1895 – died August 31, 1977) was an important American writer and journalist. He was known for his strong opinions on society. He first supported ideas like socialism, which focuses on sharing wealth. Later, he became a conservative, believing more in individual freedom and less government control.
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Early Life and Army Days
George Samuel Schuyler was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His father, George Francis Schuyler, was a chef. His mother was Eliza Jane Schuyler. George's family moved to Syracuse, New York, after his mother remarried.
When he was 17, in 1912, George joined the U.S. Army. He became a First Lieutenant and served in Seattle and Hawaii. After a difficult situation, he was briefly imprisoned. However, he was released after nine months because he was a model prisoner.
Becoming a Writer and Journalist
After leaving the army, Schuyler moved to New York City. He worked many different jobs. During this time, he read a lot and became interested in socialism. He even lived for a while at a hotel run by Marcus Garvey's group, the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Schuyler didn't fully agree with Garvey's ideas, so he started writing about his own views.
He joined a group of socialist friends. This led him to work for The Messenger, a magazine run by A. Philip Randolph. Schuyler's column, "Shafts and Darts," became very popular. In 1924, he started writing a weekly column for the Pittsburgh Courier. This was one of the biggest African American newspapers in the United States.
Schuyler's Early Journalism
By the mid-1920s, Schuyler started to dislike socialism. He felt that some socialists didn't truly care about Black people. His writing caught the attention of H. L. Mencken, a famous journalist. Mencken thought Schuyler was a very skilled writer. Schuyler wrote several articles for American Mercury magazine about Black issues. People often called him "the Black Mencken" because of his sharp writing style.
In 1926, the Pittsburgh Courier sent Schuyler to the South for a story. He developed his own way of reporting: he would talk to local people like cab drivers, barbers, and police officers before interviewing town officials. That same year, he became the Chief Editorial Writer at the Courier.
He wrote a famous article called "The Negro-Art Hokum" in The Nation magazine. In it, he argued that Black American culture had been influenced by European American culture for a long time. He believed there wasn't a completely separate "Negro" style of art in the USA. He felt that art should be judged by its quality, not by the artist's race.
Important Books and Writings
In 1931, Schuyler published his novel Black No More. This book tells the story of a scientist who invents a way to turn Black people white. The book made fun of some ideas about race and religion.
Between 1936 and 1938, Schuyler published a weekly story in the Pittsburgh Courier. He later turned these stories into a novel called Black Empire. He also wrote Slaves Today: A Story of Liberia. This novel was about the slave trade created by former American slaves who had settled in Liberia.
Schuyler wrote many short stories for the Pittsburgh Courier using different pen names. His articles also appeared in important Black journals like Negro Digest and The Crisis. He also wrote for mainstream magazines like The Nation and newspapers like The Washington Post.
Changes in Political Views
From 1937 to 1944, Schuyler worked as the business manager for the NAACP. This is a major civil rights organization.
Later, Schuyler's political views changed a lot. He became very conservative. He even wrote for American Opinion, a magazine from the John Birch Society, a very conservative group. His conservative ideas were different from the main ideas of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1964, Schuyler wrote a controversial article against Martin Luther King Jr. receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. He strongly disagreed with King's methods.
Schuyler also opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He agreed that discrimination was wrong. However, he believed that the government should not force people to change their attitudes. He felt that social changes take a lot of time and cannot be forced by law.
In 1964, he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives. He ran as a candidate for the Conservative Party. He also supported Barry Goldwater, a Republican candidate for president. Because of his strong political views, the Pittsburgh Courier removed his title as associate editor.
In the 1960s, Schuyler's views on South African apartheid also changed. He had supported Black South Africans earlier. But later, because he was against communism, he said that other countries should not interfere with South Africa's system.
As he got older, it became harder for Schuyler to get his work published. He was less known by the time he died in 1977. He wrote a regular newspaper column from 1965 to 1977. His autobiography, Black and Conservative, was published in 1966.
Family Life
In 1928, George Schuyler married Josephine Lewis Cogdell. She was a writer from Texas. Their daughter, Philippa Schuyler (born 1931 – died 1967), was a child genius. She became a famous concert pianist. Philippa later became a journalist, just like her father. Sadly, she died in 1967 while on a reporting trip in Vietnam. Josephine Schuyler passed away two years later.
Selected Writings
- Slaves Today: A Story of Liberia, 1931
- Black No More: Being an Account of the Strange and Wonderful Workings of Science in the Land of the Free, A.D. 1933–1940, 1931
- Devil Town: An Enthralling Story of Tropical Africa (novella; published in the Pittsburgh Courier, June–July 1933)
- Golden Gods: A Story of Love, Intrigue and Adventure in African Jungles (novella; published in the Pittsburgh Courier, December 1933 – February 1934)
- The Beast of Bradhurst Avenue: A Gripping Tale of Adventure in the Heart of Harlem (novella; published in the Pittsburgh Courier, March–May 1934)
- Strange Valley (novella; published in the Pittsburgh Courier, August–November 1934)
- Black Empire, 1936–38, 1993 (originally published in the Pittsburgh Courier in serial form as two separate works)
- Ethiopian Stories, 1995 (originally published in the Pittsburgh Courier in serial form as two separate works)
- Black and Conservative: the Autobiography of George Schuyler, Arlington House, 1966.
- Rac(e)ing to the Right: Selected Essays of George S. Schuyler, 2001
See also
