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Being from Atlanta if you are black and well off from a generational point of view,you know that there are "Old Money" enclaves in the city that mirror the customs of typical white well to do families.Communities dating back as early as the 1920's in some cities like NYC.Think of the Harlem Renaissance.Well Atlanta had Sweet Auburn:"the richest negro street in the World as it was coined by John Wesley Dobbs.A civil right pioneer well before MLK ,he was the Grandfather of the first black Mayor of Atlanta.Maynard Jackson.
Many cities like New Orleans dating back even further than New Yorks was also prominent.Add to the list,Philadelphia,Washington D.C.,Detroit,Chicago and a handful of others.
To highlight these communities that flew under the conventional wisdom that blacks never had much during racial turmoil of Jim Crow and segregation before, a book was written in 1999 by a black lawyer and former Wall street broker who grew up in one of those societies in NYC.He talks of the exclusive and proper clubs and societies like the Boule',Jack and Jill and how he and others as a boy vacationed in the well to do section of Martha's Vineyard.
He gives detailed information of each city and who were inand who were not in the "Our Kind" crowd.His book is called Our Kind of People.
Fast forward today,after writing what many say was very controversial book,He is writing another book where he is compiling the 800 most influential and Richest black families America.There is a lot of commotion about this.Some say its just too pretentious and divides blacks among classes.I have mixed feelings,but even so I have been fascinated that many people even within the black community had even heard about it.
Were any of you aware of this?If so are you black or white?How does this information effect you or shape your opinions.
Discussions like these bring out the true colors of people. It's better to not discuss it.
What do you mean?I want to know how people feel about it.Its controversial but it is a forum.I know people act a fool but im not trying to hear idiots,just intellectual discussion.Excuse my naivety'
I'm a black male and we take pride in hearing things like this, I know I do. It's very good to know that blacks could become powerful and influential people even in the 60s up until now. New Orleans does have its fair share of wealthy blacks but not as many as Atlanta. Good thread.
Here is a review from the book off Amazon.This readers echo pretty much my sentiments:
Quote:
I did not want to read this book because I was convinced that it fed into the negativity of colorism that is still pervasive in our community. In the book, Graham does constantly talk about the right skin complexion, the right pedigree, the right religion and the right education. After a while, I must admit, it did get tiresome. That is besides the point. I think that this publication provides a good starting point for the discussion of CLASS in the African American community . I am truly sadden that we do not always celebrate individuals who achieved in the face of societal racism. You have be an athlete or a performer to have money. We have glamourized the ghetto and "street ******s". The struggling single black mother and the absent black father have become the most pervasive image we have of the black family. We automatically assume that if a black person does well without programs like affirmative action (like these individuals did) they do so at the expense of other blacks.
What are we discussing??? I'm not exactly understanding the OT. How we feel about wealthy Blacks???
That's the impression that I got. That's why I thought it was a little out of place. Maybe he is trying to ask which city has the most history of Upper Class Black People??????
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