Lawrence Otis Graham gives a pretentious, shallow, and rather obnoxious portrayal of the 1900s black elite. Reading this book in 2016 seems outdated and almost silly. Debutante cotillions. Million-dollar homes. Summers in Martha's Vineyard. Membership in the Links, Jack & Jill, Deltas, Boule, and AKAs. For the black elite, there was/is an obsession with the right schools, families, social clubs, and skin complexion. Does this really still apply? Perhaps. But the black upper middle class has expanded so much that some of the key concepts such as generations of Morehouse men in your family if you live in Atlanta or how many summers you've spent at Sag Harbor are so stale. The last few chapters on black elite in various cities was a yawnfest. I feel sorry for the uppity and exaggerated superiority views of some of the interviewees in the book. It seems plain silly to only want to be amongst snobby black folks all the time. Sad actually.

Why couldn't I give this book a mere three stars? Why did I even have the impulse to give it five?

Despite its gossip-columnish tone (three stars, max) the book is well researched. It draws a detailed picture of a distinct, highly articulated subculture, "the Black Upper Class"or "Black Bourgeoisie". In doing so, it points out major sociological and historical issues in the American polity. The term "Black Bourgeoisie" was the title of E. Franklin Frazier's sociological study of this group. Frazier declared that you couldn't call them an "upper class", because there couldn't be such an entity within an oppressed group such as Afro-Americans. Frazier was very consciously an outsider to the group and his tone was less than sympathetic towards them. Lawrence Otis Graham, on the other hand, is frankly proud to be a member of the group, and writes as an insider.

I read Frazier's work when I was a teenager. Might be good to give it another read, and to review it and Graham's work in relation to one another.

Most of the world is unaware there is a black aristocracy, a privileged class. This was an interesting, necessary and well-researched book, although the author's tone was a little pretentious.

I recently re-read this book and it still inspires me to be better. Black upper class professionals exist and they are taking over the world. Feb 2023.

Lawrence Otis Graham is an Ivy League graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School. Graham lived his life as Black Social Elite. Mansions, Cotillions, Jack and Jill, and summers in Martha’s Vineyard. He is one of the nation’s most prominent commenters on race and class.

Graham spent years researching the White elite and chronicling the differences between them and the middle class when he decided to turn his research to the Black community. This book is a result of years of meticulous study with in-depth interviews, historical documentation, and first person insight. The Black elite started before slavery in the United States. Old money was plentiful and made sure that families stayed together, were well educated, and lived in ‘high cotton’. Black elite families made sure they were members in the right groups – Jack and Jill, The Links, the Deltas and the AKAs, the Alphas and the Omegas. Everything about Black elite families spoke money – where they lived, the cars they drove, where they were educated, and the friends they kept. Interviews with the relatives of Madam CJ Walker speaks to the lives of the first Black self-made millionaire. Alonzo Herndon was the first Black millionaire in Atlanta. Graham reports that just because America does not discuss the lives of the Black elite it does not mean they did not exist.

This book is going into my "valued book" collection as it is a keeper. I learned so much. There was so much packed into each page that I literally took my time savoring each morsel. The volume of work and research that went into producing this book is phenomenal! I would highly recommend this book to people of all races as it will truly enlighten you. In many instances, the facts displayed on each page made me want to research people, places and sites on the Internet. It just goes to show that even in times of strife, we as black people were strong and still are strong and able to withstand obstacles and roadblocks put in their paths. The people in the book had to go through so much racism, but with an indomitable spirit, many of them made it to the top. The book inspires me to be my best and be successful in my business.

Black people are diverse. We don't all live the hood, we weren't all raised without fathers, we don't all attend failing public schools.

Those things are true for a lot of Black people, just like those things are true for White people, LatinX people, Asian people.

But if you watch mainstream media you would think that all Black suffer the same way. I don't know how many times a White person has just assumed I knew some Black person they know.

WE DON'T ALL KNOW EACH OTHER!

I have a vivid memory of my 3rd grade teacher(a White woman) being surprised that my parents were married(she would have been really shocked to know that my dad probably made 3x what she made as a teacher).

All this is to say that just like there are upper class White people. There too are upper class people of color.

The Black upper class is an exclusive and weird class of people. My immediate family isn't considered part of this elite class but I do have a wing of my family that is apart of this group. They attended Black private schools, went to Historically Black Colleges and are members of elite Black social clubs. There are people in my family who if they wanted to, could live as White people. Blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin.

These people exist.

Lawrence Otis Graham is the perfect author to draw attention to this society, since he is apart of it. Our Kind of People mostly focuses on the rich Black society of big cities like New York, Chicago, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta and New Orleans... but every state has these enclaves. I live on the Kentucky/Ohio border and have family in both states and both states have a city that rich Black people flock to(I won't out them but No its not the cities you're think of).

I had many different emotions while reading this book. I was angry at how pompous these people are, I laughed at the ridiculousness of these people, and I was proud of the accomplishments of these people. I can't help be feel proud of successful Black people(until they do something shitty).

Our Kind of People isn't just a history of successful Black people, its a history of America. Because despite how much White people try to erase the accomplishments of Black people, there would be no American society with us. Our successes helped America succeed.

Not all Black history needs to be about misery and suffering. Sometimes it feels good to read about how Black families went from slavery to being successful business owners and millionaires.

A Must Read!

Really enjoyed reading this book. It's a fascinating study of affluent black Americans--the blacks we rarely hear about unless they are celebrities. Graham presents a world that I'd heard my parents talk about but that I never experienced. I grew up in a working class/middle class neighborhood. I didn't know anything about debutant cotillions or summers in Martha's Vineyard until I was in college and was invited as a guest. I read the book as research for a novel I am writing, and I am so glad I found it.

Now dated, but offers a fascinating an in-depth — maybe, too in-depth — overview of the network of institutions that have nurtured and sustained an educated, high-earning community of African Americans since the 1800s, following the end of (and in some cases, preceding the end of) slavery. From HBCUs to elite children's societies to high-class churches and men's and women's social clubs, which operate in some cases like secret societies, they've existed in major cities for multiple generations, and built intense alliances and business and personal ties among the communities of black doctors, lawyers, ministers, business owners, political leaders, and other elites. The author is unabashed about how these networks benefited him individually, and served a community of wealthy African Americans over the decades, although he doesn't shy away from criticism about their conservatism, exclusivity, and aversion to advocating for social change.

This was a good read! One side of me is saying why is this worth discussing? Another side of me is saying folks need to know that African-Americans have an Upper-Class society that are professionals and not just in sports or entertainment. We have families that have generations of educators and business leaders. Just like White women have the Junior League, Black women have the Links, Inc. and many other organizations that have been around for years. I just hate that there is a divide in the African-American community when it comes to these types of Black Upper-Class people. However, this is part of Black history and the story needs to be told!

I read this illuminating book not long after it came out, when I was just a young Capitol Hill staffer who knew nothing about the world other than where I was raised in Granite Mountain. Amazing insights into the hidden wealth of the black community, and a different narrative of us than we're normally exposed to. This book left an impression on me all through the next twenty years of my life, and later inspired my series Sag Harbor Black Romances.

I applaud this author for writing a fascinating book about the Black Upper Class. There are so many books about Blacks being slaves that I grew tired of reading about it. Although it is apart of history, can we at least talk about their culture or how at one time they were Kings and Queens? I must have seen every movie relating to slavery or when we were subordinate. I am so tired of the stereotypes, pardon my tangent but that annoys me. Now unto this book, I have to say that the writing style was compelling but very wordy. I skimmed a few passages because of how repetitive and dense it was at times, but I admired how rich the content was. However, it was not a book that caught me by surprise.

Originally I thought I was going to be about African Americans in the 1800s,, but it was mainly about the author story of how he discovered how rich the culture of African Americans was. Told from his own personal story and how he was raised by the people around him. I think the culture is too rich to cover it all but the author did a great job hitting the highlights. I decided to read this mainly because I am taking a race class that aligns very close to the contents of this book.

It was a much needed true story, glad that the author had the courage to write such a daring book.

One of the most painful books I have ever read.