Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class

Rating:
Summary: More Understanding
Review: This book helped be get a better understanding of my life experience as a light-skinned black woman. I grew up on the East Coast, Pennsylvania, both my parents were deaf mutes, so I missed out on being informed in many areas. I lived in a very poor community, and often wondered why I was treated so badly by some of the blacks in the community. I was verbally abused, physically, you name it. The black mothers still hate me today, but now I understand that it was probably thought that I would receive favor from whites and black men because of the color of my skin. They probably watched the lighter skinned people receive favor in their past history.

I had wonderful experiences in the black community as well, and have a bond that will never be broken. There were blacks that protected me from the abuse as well, and I am very thankful for them.

According to this book, it looks like some light skinned people did receive favor dating back in history. This was never explained to me, but now I understand. I am happy to hear about people like Reginald Lewis, and the others. I am proud to know that there are blacks in American society that have broken the sound barrier and lived an elite life.

I think the reason this group remained a secret so long is, if they talked the whites would destroy them. The whites had the power to do what they wanted in this country all along.

This book also showed that there were whites who loved their own black children too, and left them inheritences.

I think the author of this book is explaining his life experience the best way he knew how, and I can appreciate his honesty. He can't help they way our forefathers made decisions. It's not his fault, Lawrence is just the messenger. I think we all should be more open minded, and just try to find out why? I've done research on my family history and found out that my father's mother was white, and even re-united him with is white family before he passed away.

I wanted to find out why I was treated badly by many people in the black community as a child, now I know why. This book wasn't the only source I had, but it surely helped me put the pieces together. I grew up with, understand my black brothers and sisters, and married a man with a dark complexion. I always try understand both sides of the spectrum. I don't have bitterness towards the black mothers who turned their backs on me in the ghetto. I still help them and embrace them, try to advise them in areas I have knowledge of, and most of all, try to understand their pain as well. I have a spirit of compassion, and forgiveness.

To understand the future is to understand what happened in the past. My strength has always been in my understanding and the book should not be a source to fuel jealousy, but a source of understanding.

Rating:
Summary: Black upper class - alive and well!
Review: Lawrence Otis Graham should be commended for this very insightful and intrigueging story about the American black upper class, which quite honestly, prior to this publication and the Clarence Thomas hearings - and those highly educated, articulate blacks who testifyed on Thomas' behalf - this highly educated, traditional, old guard black upper class would probably remain an obscure and unknown American entity by both blacks and whites. The knowledge about wealthy, educated, accomplished blacks, who in many cases can trace their lineage back many generations ago and who are committed to preserving their family traditions, racial history and accomplishments, engenders in me a certain pride and satisfaction, while at the same saddening me, that many, if not most blacks who have also read this book, come away feeling that Mr. Graham has done a harmful disservice to the blacks who were interviewed and to blacks in general. I for one, a black female from a middle class background, have no such feelings of shame, embarrasment, resentment and anger about elite blacks, nor do I believe that a disservice to blacks has occured. Perhaps we blacks can learn a thing or two about their highly resourceful, determined and entrepreneurial spirit to succeed at all costs and to pass on cherished values to their children and succeeding generations in spite of the oppressive burden of bigotry, where no matter how educated and accomplished blacks may have been, were still seen as inferior and viciously unwelcome in just about all segments of American society during the origins of the black upper class. These people, some very well known, and some less so or not at all, succeeded and made their own American dream come true anyway and are yet, another American success story, which should be told, repeated and praised. Thank you Mr. Graham.

Rating:
Summary: Black Elite Sterotyped With Broad Brush from Same Ink Well
Review: Despite Mr. Graham's stellar associations and entree' into the Blackelete and corporate America and despite his equally stellarprofessional accomplishments and Ivy League schooling, this author'sbook is extremely gossipy, filled with idle talk, and lacking insignificant measurable documentation of the enormous contributionsthat the American Black elete have made to American culture,institutions and community. I am angered by this book because of thetone and lack of more concrete documentation. In the beginningchapters, Mr. Graham describes how his great-grandmother admonishedhim and his brother for playing in the direct sun not for healthreasons, but because it was not socilly acceptable in her socially setto be too dark, too black. He also states that he and his family hadone foot in and one foot out of this elete circle. Well, perhaps thisaccounts for the tone of the book. There is no doubt that having alifetime association with a Black elete group that Mr. Grahamdescribes as measuring the value of people by the color of their skin,the texture of their hair, colleges attended and the sororities andfraternities joined and other social organizations, including thelineage of ones parents would be cause for a complexity of emotionssuch as inferiority, anger, guilt, rage, and smugness amongothers. .... Mr. Graham does a real discredit to nearly all those who were willingto be interviewed by him who he then painting with rare exception asracist and bigoted with a brush from the same Ink Well. Yes, I amaware of the sterotypes described, but I never met any of them becauseall those elete I associated with welcomed me graciously at the firstmeeting and subsequent meetings. Since the very elete he describedprotected their children and guided their children to obtain collegeincluding advanced degrees, worked for generations in the Blackcommunity at schools, colleges, etc and contributed enormously to thecommunity, this book is harmful to that repetition by lack of fulldisclosure of the dollars involved. So, this book would appear to harmthe image of all those who provided that positive work. Thosechildren of those elete Mr. Graham describes were not gettingarrested, shooting children in schools and in their neighborhoods, aswe hear on the local news every night, not stealing coats and killingother youth--so they really knew how to raise productive citizensdespite the characteristics of some not all as elitism. People have aright to choose their associations, where they live, who they dancewith, who they socialize with.Mr. Graham accepted their social lifeapparently and was boastful too. I do not associate with those whoseviews I do not share regularly.

Anyone who thinks and acts asMr. Graham describes the Black elete is as undesirable as one who is aKlu Klux Klan, or white racists, or bigot whether they be Black or anyother color. However, you cannot paint this group this way with thesame brush because it is not accurate and a great disservice.

Iwould like to see Mr. Graham write his next book and include chartsand documentation of the millions that have been given to the generalcommunity and its organizations by these people. These enormouscontributions are lost in Mr. Graham's book because of it's dominantgossipy and trite tone.

I wonder if Mr. Graham is still welcomed bythese people who consented to be interviewed. I wonder if he sees thegreat harm to the repetition of the Black elete this book does. Whatwas his purpose?

Rating:
Summary: An unnerving look into the lives of the black elite.
Review: I found this book unsettling. It was very well written yet the information was startling. My reactions ranged from disbelief to anger to disgust and finally a rather painful understanding. Some of the beliefs chronicled I ruefully remembered my own grandmother mouthing. The phrases and dictates recorded in this book was uncomfortably familiar from the days of my own youth. In a sense I garnered a stronger understanding of my grandmother's world and called her immediately upon finishing the book to tell her so. Just to see in print the blatant lack of respect for our darker hued brothers and sisters caused something to twist inside me. I can't say that I enjoyed this book but I feel better educated because of it. It WAS nice to learn of all the wealthy blacks that have lived in relative obscurity.

Rating:
Summary: An Unpublicized Part of American History
Review: This is a part of American history that needs to be told: the story of the black upperclass. While I thought the book could have ended on a more positive note (something that is not complexion-obsession-related)the book is a wonderful history book. OUR KIND OF PEOPLE tells the true story of black Americans who helped build America. This book is not about stereotypes, it's about people who defied them.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting & somewhat useful, but not an objective account
Review: I am pleased that someone has finally broke the code of silence surrounding the black elite. They do exist and are often viscious and small-minded. The book is useful in that it has helped me understand some of the petty, ridiculously superficial, name-dropping black elites that I have personally come across. The book is also useful because it puts blacks of all other economic-classes on notice that there is yet one more group conspiring to shut them out of certain opportunities. The book is tainted however, by obvious contradictions and the author's own painful memories which skew his perspective.

For example, Mr. Graham repeatedly mentions and complains about a "brown paper bag and ruler test" by which blacks with skin darker than a brown paper bag and hair that is not as straight as a ruler are excluded from the elite circle. Mr. Graham clearly doesn't pass this test himself (despite his nose job), and yet he is a member of the elite circle. The pictures of black elites, from the 1890s to the present, showing many dark skinned/kinky haired people, also contradict his assertions. Clearly, there are issues in the black community about physical features (both European and African), but Graham's own evidence suggests that having African features does not seem be a bar to admission into the black upper class.

Mr. Graham had bitter memories of petty and insensitive comments being made by other black elites about his African features and, I gather, felt at times on the fringes of elite Society. This explains why he harps on the issue of skin color and features througout the book and seems to take revenge on his former "tormentors" by casting them in a most disparaging light. His personal experience may also be the reason why he omits any discussion of how black elites make equally painful and derogatory remarks about blacks who are "too light" and white looking and how they now marginalize and even exclude very fair-skinned sisters (and sometimes brothers, but less so) from job opportunities and black social life, in attempt to make-up for preferences given to white looking blacks by conservative whites years ago.

A personal criticism: Although I'm glad he wrote the book, it seems to me that if one is going to accept all of the benefits of membership in this elite group, as Mr. Graham has, one shouldn't tell tales out of school. Mr. Graham may be well educated and successful, but he is no gentleman.

Rating:
Summary: Informative, if frightening
Review: I guess there are people out there who really believe this stuff. Wow. Talk about division. I did find these tidbits about the upper class interesting. Much of their attitudes struck me as silly, but I won't take this out on the author.

However, the author makes at least two references to Isabel Powell in which he describes her as the "widow" of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. She was actually the first of three or four wives. His widow would be whoever he was married to at the time of his death.

Rating:
Summary: I tried to like this book but couldn't
Review: I'm not African-American but am very interested in history. I had high hopes that this book would expose me to something new and noble about black history. Otis started out okay- I was fascinated with the knowledge of brilliant black doctors and businessmen (and women) who had succeeded beyond the odds. I support getting kids educated and I even understand why early 20th century African Americans felt they had to segregate their kids to succeed. It was important and vital to have built a network of role models for their children. I was cheering on their successes but that cheering stopped rather suddenly. The book lost my interest when it began to weave a yarn about elitism and racism within a race. Was Otis saying that this was or is effective? Blacks discriminating against black because of skin color? Because of amount of money the family had? Prestige of school or sorority/frat? Did Otis really need to expose this? This is like looking at the rotten side of the dominate white culture in America. Wanting your kids to get ahead is normal and natural, but arrogance is arrogance, regardless of the culture it's in. The book started out interesting, middled into a social register of "who's who in black America" and ended with racism based on just how black you are. Otis struck me as a wannabe in his writing. Not quite up to the upper strata of his race but there were plenty of reminders that he was clearly "connected". Yuck. Black, white, yellow, or red- who needs this kind of caste system junk.

Rating:
Summary: Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class
Review: This book is fanstastic. It is a GREAT american history lesson as well as a black american history lesson. This book was not limited to one black area in america. It brilliantly touched on some of the most important parts of american and black american history, from the south to the north. It successfully gives detailed information about famous black families that have helped to shape america. It also gives information about black familes that are successful but have been left out of american history. This book shows how brillant a people black americans are, even with all the obstacles in their way. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Very Informative
Review: The book proved to be very informative. It created a bit of controversy among those who discussed it. I recall the wife of a prominent attorney discussing Jack and Jill. I made the remark that my sister would probably be very interested in the organization, (you see, I had never heard of Jack and Jill). Now I understand why she did not reply. My sister never would have received an invitation to join the organization and I guess the attorney's wife didn't have the heart to tell me. My, we as a people, still have 'quite a ways' to go.