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

Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper ClassFascinating. . . . Graham] has made a major contribution both to African American studies and the larger American picture. New York Times Debutante cotillions. Million dollar homes. Summers in Martha's Vineyard. Membership in the Links, Jack & Jill, Deltas, Boule, and AKAs. An obsession with the right schools, families, social clubs, and skin complexion. This is the world of the black upper class and the focus of the first book written about the black

Fascinating. . . . Graham] has made a major contribution both to African-American studies and the larger American picture. --New York Times

Debutante cotillions. Million-dollar homes. Summers in Martha's Vineyard. Membership in the Links, Jack & Jill, Deltas, Boule, and AKAs. An obsession with the right schools, families, social clubs, and skin complexion. This is the world of the black upper class and the focus of the first book written about the black elite by a member of this hard-to-penetrate group.

Author and TV commentator Lawrence Otis Graham, one of the nation's most prominent spokesmen on race and class, spent six years interviewing the wealthiest black families in America. He includes historical photos of a people that made their first millions in the 1870s. Graham tells who's in and who's not in the group today with separate chapters on the elite in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Nashville, and New Orleans. A new Introduction explains the controversy that the book elicited from both the black and white communities.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 12/22/1999
ISBN: 9780060984380
Pages: 448
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 8.06h x 5.30w x 1.13d
Award: Gold Pen Awards - Nominee

Review Citations: Entertainment Weekly 01/21/2000 pg. 99
New York Times 01/16/2000 pg. 32