It had something to do with his blackness, i think—he was very black—with his blackness and his beauty, and with the fact that he knew that he was black but did not know that he was beautiful. he claimed to be proud of his blackness but it had also been the cause of much humiliation and it had fixed bleak boundaries to his life. what does the excerpt tell readers about racial prejudice in early 20th-century america? racial prejudice had negative psychological effects on those who discriminated against others. racial prejudice had negative psychological effects on those who suffered its injustices. people who experienced racial prejudice did not show evidence of any psychological effects. people who experienced racial prejudice were fully aware of how they were affected psychologically