Blacks in the White Elite: Will the Progress Continue?
Author(s): Richard L. Zweigenhaft (Author), William G. Domhoff (Author)
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Publication Date: May 13, 2003
Language: English
Print length: 224 pages
ISBN-10: 0742516210
ISBN-13: 9780742516212
Book Description
This extensively revised edition of Blacks in the White Establishment? adds fifteen years to the life stories of the African Americans whose opportunities were dramatically changed by a nationally prominent educational opportunity program that provided scholarships for disadvantaged people of color to attend the same elite boarding schools that educate the children of wealthy white Americans. Beyond tracing the individuals into middle age, and expanding coverage of their careers, with special attention to experiences in the corporate world, a new chapter on their children’s education and early careers gives the new edition a poignant and unusual intergenerational perspective. Blacks in the White Elite shows why America is at a crucial juncture in relations between blacks and whites, when advances made since the Civil Rights Movement could either continue or retrench, depending on the decisions made by our governments, communities, and schools. The voices of African Americans heard in this book bring home for the reader the everyday impact of national policy issues and debates on race and class in America.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Offers an engaging portrait both of how prep schools engage in socialization to power and of just how persuasively race channels and constrains the lives of even those Blacks admitted to such places as Andover, Choate, Exeter, Groton, and Middlesex. (Lawrence Bobo Contemporary Sociology)
Zweigenhaft and Domhoff have done a great service to any interested scholar, policy analyst, or teacher who seeks to understand the intricate weaving of race and class in America. A fascinating look at the lives of people who have gone through rather extraordinary cultural change. (James M. Jones
Contemporary Psychology)
This stimulating and exemplary work shows what education can accomplish as a vehicle of social change, and is well worth reading. Highly recommended. (
Choice Magazine)
Sensitive and engrossing. (
The Black Scholar)
A page-turner. In this updated study we have here a gripping account of strivings similar to those recounted by W.E.B. DuBois in his 1903 classic
The Souls of Black Folk. It can be easily adapted for use in the classroom. (Smith, Earl)
About the Author
Richard L. Zweigenhaft, Dana Professor of Psychology at Guilford College, Greensboro, North Carolina, is co-author with William Domhoff of Diversity in the Power Elite. G. William Domhoff is research professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and author of Who Rules America.