Our Kind of People Essay Example For Students

Our Kind of People Essay LAWRENCE OTIS GRAHAM: Our Kind of PeopleI: Inside Americas 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 expos 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 PeopleInside Americas Black Upper Class Written by Barbara Babcock for the Paperstore, Inc., July 2000Debutante cotillions. Arranged marriages. Summer trips to Marthas Vineyard. All-black boarding schools. Memberships in the Links, Deltas, Boul, or Jack and Jill. Million-dollar homes. An obsession with good hair, light complexio ns, 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 white America and mainstream black America. 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. Previously known for his provocative New York magazine expos 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. 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. 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. We also become acquainted with the Black Elite in Chicago,Washington, D.C., New York City; Memphis, Detroit, Atlanta, and receiving honorable mention: Nashville, New Orleans, Tuskegee, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. And finally:Passing for White: When the Brown Paper Bag Test Isnt Enough. According to Kirkus Reviews (1998), this non-fiction work is a record of the pleasures and the follies of an elevated black society. According to Gr aham, all racial, ethnic, and religious groups lay claim to their own privileged class that group which,either because of family name, wealth, title, education, or other circumstance fashions itself a cut above the rest. This class sets itself apart with their clubs, their fraternities, and their sororities,while looking skeptically at any outsiders who can never make the grade. The reasons for forming such exclusive groups are often perfectly honorable, most commonly because members have been denied access to other organizations in the larger population. But matters can get out of hand, as Graham (Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World, 1995) perhaps unwittingly demonstrates in his examination of what he calls the black elite. His is less of a critical examination and more of a glossary of people, places, and things constituting the black upper class. And as one might expect, this realm of the right colleges and degrees and pedigrees is downright ince stuous, a world where cotillions and coming-out parties still matter. Graham, an insider and attorney,knows it well. Yet his contemporary savvy matters less, in the end, than does his appetite for historical detail. Graham insights into the story of blacks in vacation spots like Marthas Vineyard in Massachusetts and Sag Harbor on Long Island, N.Y., for instance, are fascinating. Nevertheless, the ongoing claustrophobia of privilege (with many of the same people andtheir cliques cycling and recycling) can weary a reader. One walks away with the impression that Grahams effort could have been cut in half and all one would have missed is an extra afternoon of ceaseless croquet, followed by cucumber sandwiches down by the gazebo. Diversity of Hawthorne's Writings in Young Goodma EssayCorrespondingly, I also know that, I would not read or recommend books about the Kennedys or Princess Diana. I know that there are others who do not live as I do, but there is a part of me that doesnt care. I do not need to feel guilty about that decision, and have chosen instead to save basic guilt issues for my relationship with my mother. 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. I suppose that if I were really honest, there is a part of me that would wonderohyou are in that personal space now. That is all right.With experience and maturity, you will soon be out of it and set your sights on new horizons. 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. Notthat this is BAD or WRONG, I actually think it has been helpful to all the color lines in America because he has walked the tight rope that splits the hard truths about racism on BOTH sides (Black ;White).I tip my hat to this writer for being able to present his HARD TRUTHS in a provocative way to spark so much success and interest. Two sides of the same coin? Certainly good art is anything that makes us think. ____. 1998, December 15. Our Kind of People : Inside Americas BlackGraham, Lawrence Otis. 1999, January 1. Our Kind of People : Inside Americas Black Upper Class. Bibliography: