Self-Portrait in Black and White  Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race is a 2019 book by Thomas Chatterton Williams. It was published by W. W. Norton & Company on October 15, 2019. Thomas, the son of a black father and a white mother, who grew up identifying as black explains in the book how he has come to unlearn his racial identity. The book was published by W. W. Norton & Company on October 15, 2019. Williams appeared on "Real Time with Bill Maher" on October 18, 2019 to promote the book. At the review aggregator website Book Marks, which assigns individual ratings to book reviews from mainstream literary critics, the book received a cumulative "Mixed" rating based on 11 reviews: 2 "Rave" reviews, 3 "Positive" reviews, 3 "Mixed" reviews, and 3 "Pan" reviews.