Our Kind of People
LAWRENCE OTIS GRAHAM: Our Kind of PeopleI: Inside America's Black Upper Class (5 .5 pp) Through six years of interviews with more than three hundred prominent families and individuals, journalist and commentator Lawrence Otis Graham weaves together the revealing stories and fascinating experiences of upper-class blacks who grew up with privilege and power. Previously known for his provocative New York magazine expose of elite golf clubs, when he left his law firm and went undercover as a busboy at an all-white Connecticut country club, Graham now turns his attention to the black elite. Bibliography lists 2 sources. BBblkeli.doc LAWRENCE OTIS GRAHAM: Our Kind of People Inside America's Black Upper Class Written by Barbara Babcock for the Paperstore, Inc., July 2000 Debutante cotillions. Arranged marriages. Summer trips to Martha's Vineyard. All-black boarding schools. Memberships in the Links, Deltas, Boule, or Jack and Jill. Million-dollar homes. An obsession with good hair, light complexions, top credentials, and colleges like Howard, Spelman, and Harvard. This is the world of the black upper class, exclusive, mostly hidden group that lives awkwardly between
As well as The Links and the Girl Friends: For Black Women Who Govern Society ; The Boule, the Guardsmen, and Other Groups for Elite Black Men; and Vacation Spots for the Black Elite. Yet his contemporary savvy matters less, in the end, than does his appetite for historical detail. He takes us on a limousine ride with the richest black man in America and introduces us to socialites who are adept at screening celebrities, Baptists, and "new money" blacks out of their circles. Graham insights into the story of blacks in vacation spots like Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and Sag Harbor on Long Island, N. And finally: Passing for White: When the "Brown Paper Bag Test" Isn't Enough. And as one might expect, this realm of the right colleges and degrees and pedigrees is downright incestuous, a world where cotillions and coming-out parties still matter. And at the same time always striving for balance, I found the following personal review of Our Kind of People from someone who knew Graham in high school: I DO believe that this author is living his transformation within the pages of his books. A conservative network of families dating back to the first black millionaires of the 1880s, the black elite has developed its own rules for membership and for maintaining a place in a world that is unaware of its vast contributions. Contents Through six years of interviews with more than three hundred prominent families and individuals, journalist and commentator Lawrence Otis Graham weaves together the revealing stories and fascinating experiences of upper-class blacks who grew upwith privilege and power. Simply looking at the table of contents gives an overview of this quiet class of privilege: The Origins of the Black Upper Class; Jack and Jill: Where Elite Black Kids Are Separated from the Rest; The Black Child Experience: The Right Cotillions, Camps, and Private Schools; Howard, Spelman, and Morehouse: Three Colleges That Count; and The Right Fraternities and Sororities. I know that there are class divisions in society, and readily admit I would rather have money than do without it; but I really do not care to read about the elite, since I feel that all of us have elitist tendencies, some base them around money, some around race, and some around knowledge or experience. With photographs and stories, the author takes us to the mansions they built in the 1880s, as well as to black-tie debutante cotillions and dinners hosted by the "best" families and social groups today.
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