Look magazine was sort of the weirder sibling of Life. It was known, yes, for its Stanley Kubrick photos and Emmett Till reportage, but also for shock journalism about head transplantations and underground saucer-shaped airplanes. One such piece of sensationalism was Walter White’s heartbreaking 1949 article, “Has Science Conquered the Color Line?”

A modest proposal along the lines of Jonathan Swift but not intended as satire, the piece suggested that a new skin-lightening technique which was close to being perfected would allow people of color to “become” white and avoid prejudice. The author wasn’t any sort of racist; a former head of the NAACP and of mixed race, he was very light-skinned and able to pass in either world. He was just tired of racism and wanted to see it all end by any means necessary, even in this remarkably ill-conceived and self-loathing way. The piece, unsurprisingly, caused a furor, despite being published a couple of decades before anyone in America was saying the obvious aloud–that Black is beautiful. But it did speak to the the level of race relations during the “good old days.” An excerpt:

“Consider what would happen if a means of racial transformation is made available at a reasonable cost. The racial, social, economic and political consequences would be tremendous.

Some three years ago I wrote an article, quite innocent that my words might prove prophetic. I said:

‘Suppose the skin of every Negro in America were suddenly to turn white. What would happen to all the notions about Negroes, the idols on which are built race prejudice and race hatred? Would not Negroes then be judged individually on their ability, energy, honesty, cleanliness as are whites? How else could they be judged?’

Now that science is near making such a dream a reality, it’s time to consider the questions raised more seriously than ever.”