Anthropology Applied to the American White Man and Negro
by Robert Gilbert Wells
I met the amiable and widely read John Clute in New Hampshire in the summer of 2014. He
introduced me to this work, which he describes in the Encyclopedia of Science
Fiction as a satire of race relations in post-Reconstruction America. For the most
part, the story takes place as a conversation between a black man, Sam Brown, and his
white brother, Boss Jones. As such, it’s a subtle satire, using the “science of
Anthropology” to warn us of the laziness of the Negro, the greed of the white man, and
the evils of incompatible matings, among other things.
Clute classifies the work as having numerous fantastic elements such as when Sam and the author Bob Wells leave their bodies to invisibly view other happenings, at least one small bit of time travel, and the one item that’s of most interest: a potion that changes Mr. Jones into a Negro for the span of a train journey.
Whatever time travel does exist, such as a possible visit by Mr. Jones to 16th century Greece, is subtle compared to the other aspects of the satire.
— Michael Main
The doors and windows were opened, Sam and Mr. Jones walked out of the room, then to the
depot purchased tickets and started for Chicago, but when the two men arrived at the
depot, to Mr. Jones surprise, the ticket agent told him to get out of that waiting room
or he would take a club to his head, and that pretty quick.
Anthropology Applied to the American White Man and Negro by Robert Gilbert Wells (Wells, Book Concern, April
1905).