The African-American upper class is a social class that consists of
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
individuals who have high disposable incomes and high net worth.
The group may include highly paid white-collar professionals such as
academics
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
,
engineers
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...
,
lawyers
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor, ...
,
accountants
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
,
doctors
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
,
politicians,
business executives
An executive officer is a person who is principally responsible for leading all or part of an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. In many militaries and police forces, an executive officer, o ...
,
venture capitalists
Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
,
CEOs
Kea ( el, Κέα), also known as Tzia ( el, Τζια) and in antiquity Keos ( el, Κέως, la, Ceos), is a Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit.
Geography
It is the island o ...
,
celebrities
Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...
,
entertainers
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousand ...
,
entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
and
heirs
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...
. This
social class
A social class is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the Upper class, upper, Middle class, middle and Working class, lower classes. Membership in a social class can for ...
, sometimes referred to as the black upper class, the black upper middle class or
black elite
The Black elite is any elite, either political or economic in nature, that is made up of people who identify as of Black African descent. In the Western World, it is typically distinct from other national elites, such as the United Kingdom's arist ...
, represents one percent of the total
black population in the United States.
This group of black people has a history of organizations and activities that distinguish it from other classes within the black community, as well as from the white
upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status, usually are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper class is gen ...
. Many of these traditions, which have persisted for several generations, are discussed in
Lawrence Otis Graham
Lawrence Otis Graham (December 25, 1961 – February 19, 2021) was an American attorney, political analyst, cultural influencer and celebrated ''New York Times'' best-selling author. 's 2000 book, ''
Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class''. Scholarship on this class from a sociological perspective is generally traced to
E. Franklin Frazier
Edward Franklin Frazier (; September 24, 1894 – May 17, 1962), was an American sociologist and author, publishing as E. Franklin Frazier. His 1932 Ph.D. dissertation was published as a book titled ''The Negro Family in the United States'' (1 ...
's ''
Black Bourgeoisie
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
'' (first edition in English in 1957 translated from the 1955 French original).
Today, the African American upper class exists throughout the United States, particularly in the
Northeast
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
and in the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
, with the largest contiguous majority black high income neighborhoods being in the
Washington, DC metropolitan area
The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of the states of Maryland, Virgi ...
, particularly in
Prince George's County
)
, demonym = Prince Georgian
, ZIP codes = 20607–20774
, area codes = 240, 301
, founded date = April 23
, founded year = 1696
, named for = Prince George of Denmark
, leader_title = Executive
, leader_name = Angela D. Alsobrook ...
and
Charles County
Charles County is a county in Southern Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. Charles County is part of the Wash ...
.
Majority black high income neighborhoods are also found in the
New York,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Memphis
Memphis most commonly refers to:
* Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt
* Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city
Memphis may also refer to:
Places United States
* Memphis, Alabama
* Memphis, Florida
* Memphis, Indiana
* Memp ...
,
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, and
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
metropolitan areas.
Historical background
When
enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries, there began to be
mixed-race children of African and European descent in the Americas. Then called "
mulattoes
(, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...
," they were sometimes not enslaved by their white slave-holding fathers and comprised a large part of the
free black population in the
South
South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...
.
[Frazier, E (1997). ''Black Bourgeoisie''. New York, NY: Free Press Paperbacks, p. 14.] In addition, numbers of Africans escaped to freedom during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. Others were
manumitted
Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that ...
by their enslavers. The free black community in the US had therefore increased considerably by 1800, and although most of them were very poor, some were able to own farmland or to learn mechanical or artistic trades.
Some people escaped slavery and served in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
(1861–1865) for the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
and after the war, an extremely small number of freed people along the Georgia coast received
and a mule, which contributed to land ownership among blacks following the
emancipation
Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchis ...
of slaves.
Following the outbreak of the Civil War, abolitionists such as
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
claimed that enlisting Black soldiers would strengthen the North in winning the war and would be a significant step forward in the fight for equal rights: "Once let the Black man get upon his person the brass letters, U.S.; let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket," Douglass said, "and there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship." This is just what President Lincoln feared: He was concerned that arming African Americans, particularly former or escaped slaves, might lead to the declaring independence of the loyal border states. As a result, the Union's chances of winning the war would be slim to none.
Other former slaves, often mixed-race former house slaves who shared ancestry with their onetime owners and had acquired marketable skills such as cooking and tailoring, worked in domestic fields or were able to open small businesses such as restaurants and catering firms. Some free blacks in the North also founded small businesses and even newspapers. They were able to get a head-start on the blacks who were essentially still enslaved by their lack of access to wealth accumulation, particularly when it came to owning their own land.
History of college education
During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
in the 1860s, organizations like the
American Missionary Association, which had sponsored elementary schools for Southern blacks, established some of the first
historically black colleges and universities
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...
. These include
Fisk University
Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...
, founded in 1866;
Hampton University
Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missionary Association af ...
, and
Tuskegee University
Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature.
The campus was d ...
. Those who attended these schools, as well as such other black colleges as
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
,
Morehouse College
, mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made")
, type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college
, academic_affiliations ...
and
Spelman College
Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman re ...
, were able to acquire skills and academic knowledge that put them in a distinctly different class. Cheyney University,
Lincoln University, PA founded in 1854, and
Wilberforce University
Wilberforce University is a private historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans. It participates in t ...
founded in 1856, were the only black colleges operational prior to the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
; these schools were located in the North. However, there had been a few predominantly white colleges, such as
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
in
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
and
Berea College
Berea College is a private liberal arts work college in Berea, Kentucky. Founded in 1855, Berea College was the first college in the Southern United States to be coeducational and racially integrated. Berea College charges no tuition; every a ...
in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
, that had accepted black students even before the war, and their black graduates had been given a head start on economic stability.
Since the founding of the historically black schools, often attended originally by the children of skilled former slaves who had been able to establish businesses or farms in the post-war period, several generations of many families have often become alumni of Talladega, Spelman, Morehouse, Howard, Fisk, Tuskegee, Dillard, Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University), and Hampton. While today there are well over one hundred historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the US, these early institutions have consistently been the favorites for upper-class blacks.
[Graham (2000), p. 10.] In particular,
Spelman College
Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman re ...
,
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
, and
Morehouse College
, mottoeng = And there was light (literal translation of Latin itself translated from Hebrew: "And light was made")
, type = Private historically black men's liberal arts college
, academic_affiliations ...
, have historically been heavily favored by the Black
intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
due to their selectivity, academic rigor, name recognition, networking opportunities, location, and black cultural enrichment.
However, since integration, many children of the black upper class have attended predominantly non-black colleges and universities.
"In the first time period covered by the scholars, black colleges were attracting significant numbers of students from professional, middle-class black families.
hese peopleare now the students who are cherry-picked by highly selective, prestigious institutions that weren't looking for them in the 1970s", said Michael L. Lomax, president of the United Negro College Fund.
A small number of free blacks during the 19th century were also admitted into private, predominately white institutions such as
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
Amherst.
Greek organizations
In 1904
Sigma Pi Phi
Sigma Pi Phi (), also known as The Boulé, founded in 1904, is the oldest fraternity for African Americans among those named with Greek letters. The fraternity does not have collegiate chapters and is designed for professionals at mid-career or o ...
fraternity, also known as "The Boulè," was established as the first
Greek-letter fraternity
The North American fraternity and sorority system began with students who wanted to meet secretly, usually for discussions and debates not thought appropriate by the faculty of their schools. Today they are used as social, professional, and honora ...
for African Americans, admitting only African-American men who were college graduates, had gained considerable achievement within their chosen industries, and measured as having good character. The fraternity is not present as an undergraduate fraternity. Within a decade, African American
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...
college students established
fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradu ...
as small, selective social groups that later developed an emphasis on scholarship and social activism. Occasionally, alumni members of an undergraduate fraternity are invited to join Sigma Pi Phi as mid-career adults.
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...
fraternity at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
in 1906 was established as the first African-American intercollegiate fraternity. Today there are a total of nine historically black sororities and fraternities that make up the
National Pan-Hellenic Council
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) is a collaborative umbrella council composed of historically African American fraternities and sororities also referred to as Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs). The NPHC was formed as a permanent ...
, sometimes referred to as the "Divine Nine." These include
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...
(1906),
Alpha Kappa Alpha (1908),
Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...
(1911),
Omega Psi Phi (1911),
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. The organization was founded by college-educated women dedicated to public service with an emphasis on programs that assist the African American community. Delta ...
(1913),
Phi Beta Sigma
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students with nine other Howard students as char ...
(1914),
Zeta Phi Beta
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority. In 1920, five women from Howard University envisioned a sorority that would raise the consciousness of their people, encourage the highest standards of scholastic ach ...
(1920),
Sigma Gamma Rho
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. () is a historically African American sorority, international collegiate, and non-profit community service organization that was founded on November 12, 1922, by seven educators on the Irvington campus (1875–1 ...
(1922), and
Iota Phi Theta (1963).
Some argue that historically black Greek organizations differ from those that are traditionally all-white, because of their importance to blacks long after they have left their respective colleges and universities.
[Graham (2000), p. 85.] Graham said in his book ''Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class'' that these sororities and fraternities "are a lasting identity, a circle of lifetime friends, a base for future political and civic activism".
Social and family organizations
Over the years, the black upper class has also founded numerous other organizations that allow them to socialize, build networks and get involved in communities.
Notable organizations
One of the most notable is
Jack and Jill of America, Inc., a mothers' club for African-American women founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1938. It was created by a group of middle and upper middle class mothers who wanted to bring their children together to experience a variety of educational, social and cultural opportunities, which, due to segregation and racism, were not otherwise readily available to African-American children, regardless of the socio-economic status of their parents.
[Graham (2000), p. 22.] As of 2000 there were around 218 chapters across the US and the world with about 9,500 members.
Separated into age groups, children attend monthly activities extensively planned by the mothers of that age group, which may include philanthropic endeavors, community service, pool parties, ski weekends, theater, museums, lectures, and college tours. Membership is by invitation only and, even then, not guaranteed due to the extensive candidate selection process, which may last a year or longer and may include a vote by existing members. Membership is limited to mothers of children between the ages of 2-19. Annual costs of membership, including dues and activity fees, may easily reach thousands of dollars.
Cory Booker
Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. sena ...
's mother was a member and Booker participated in activities.
The Links
The Links is an American invitation-only social and service organization of prominent Black women in the United States. Founded in 1946, it is the largest nationwide organization of Black women in the USA. Members include multiple prominent wome ...
, Incorporated, founded in 1946, is an invitation-only social service organization that requires each member to accumulate many volunteer hours. It is known for numerous annual social activities, including debutante cotillions, fashion show luncheons, auctions and balls. Women interested in joining any of the local chapters must be nominated by a current member. Members include philanthropists, college presidents, judges, doctors, bankers, lawyers, executives, educators or the wives of well-known public figures including
Kamala Harris
Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...
,
Marian Wright Edelman
Marian Wright Edelman (born June 6, 1939) is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Hillary ...
, and
Betty Shabazz
Betty Shabazz (born Betty Dean Sanders; May 28, 1934/1936 – June 23, 1997), also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was married to Malcolm X.
Shabazz grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where her foster ...
.
As of 2008 there were about 12,000 members in 273 chapters in 42 states.
The
100 Black Men of America was founded in 1963 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The organization has chapters across the US and internationally, and is primarily composed of college-degreed black men. Its primary mission is to improve the quality of life within their communities and enhance educational and economic opportunities for all African-Americans. It currently has over 10,000 members.
The
National Coalition of 100 Black Women
The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. (NCBW) is a non-profit volunteer organization for African American women. Its members address common issues in their communities, families and personal lives, promoting gender and racial equity.
Hi ...
was founded in 1970 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. The organization has chapters across the US and its membership is primarily composed of black women who have college degrees. It advocates on behalf of black women and girls, as well as promotes leadership development and gender equity in health, education, and economic empowerment.
Other social and family organizations
The Girl Friends, Incorporated is a social organization of African American women. It was founded in 1927 during the Harlem Renaissance, by a small group of close friends. As of 2016 the organization included more than 1,700 members in 47 chapters in cities across the country. Although the original concept was purely social, over the years, The Girl Friends, Incorporated expanded to include charitable and cultural activities. In 1989, the Girl Friends Fund founded a separate 501(c)3 organization to provide financial assistance to students countrywide.
The National Smart Set is a private social club founded in 1937 in Washington, DC. Members are African-American women who are leaders in their professions and, often, leaders of other respected and notable clubs and organizations. There are 700 members in 26 chapters. Each of the 26 local chapters provides philanthropic services and financial support to causes within the geographic region. At the national level, the organization donates to member-agreed causes including the MLK Memorial, Smithsonian's National Museum of African-American History and Culture, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Lupus Foundation and the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute. Membership to the National Smart Set is by invitation and the organization seeks to contain its size to ensure that members develop and nurture nation-wide bonds and relationships.
National Tots and Teens, Incorporated is another well-noted family organization. It is unique in that fathers hold membership with mothers; single father-headed households are eligible for membership. Tots and Teens was founded by Geraldine Jacoway-Ross of Los Angeles, California in May 1952. In 1953 its second chapter was organized in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. Ross wanted to expose her daughter and other youths to experiences they would not otherwise be exposed to. Tots and Teens holds a variety of activities for youth and parents such as ski trips, debutante cotillions, volunteer projects, and cultural events. Membership is by invitation only and requires two families for sponsorship and the first year the family is viewed as a prospective member without full membership status.
Twigs, Incorporated was founded by Clara J. Bostic in Yeadon (Philadelphia) in 1948 as "an association whose objective is to encourage and foster mental, physical, social and cultural development of the children who are members." The organization is national in scope and sponsors a wide variety of activities. It has sponsored ACT/SAT prep sessions, book fairs geared toward African-American children, and leadership development for Twigs youth groups. Twigs has sponsored an annual scholarship competition through its chapters for community youth graduating from high school and continuing their education at four-year institutions. The organization has an archival repository housed at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Other prominent women's groups include the Chums, Inc.;
Knights of Peter Claver & Ladies Auxiliary
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
; Continental Societies, Inc.; the Drifters, Inc.; the CARATS, Incorporated; the Moles, Inc.; the Pierians; the Carousels;
Top Ladies of Distinction
Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc. is a national professional and humanitarian organization. Based in Houston, Texas, Top Ladies of Distinction has approximately 7,000 members and 111 individual chapters throughout the United States.
History
Top L ...
(TLOD); The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Club, Inc.; National Women of Achievement, Inc.; and the Northeasterners.
A few organizations have been founded specifically for upper class black men. Some of these include the Comus Social Club, the What Good Are We Social Club a.k.a. "The Whats" (Howard University, Washington, DC), the Reveille Club, the Hellians (Washington, DC; Baltimore, Maryland; and Jackson, Mississippi), the Chesterfield Club of
Selma, Alabama the Thebans, the Tux Club, the Consorts, Bachelor-Benedict Club, the National Association of Guardsmen, the El Dorado Club of Houston, Texas, and the Bonanza Social Club of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Home ownership rates
According to a 2007 estimate, 80 percent of upper-class blacks own their own homes.
[Lacy (2007), p. 37.] This is compared to 66 percent of those earning more than $50,000 and 52 percent of those who earn between $30,000 and $49,999 in
income
Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...
.
Notable black business districts during segregation
The following are a few black business districts, areas, and cities that swelled with success during the era of legal segregation, which also contributed to the rise of the African-American upper class.
*
U Street, NW in Washington, D.C.
*
Pennsylvania Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., and Prince George's County, Maryland, that connects the White House and the United States Capitol and then crosses the city to Maryland. In Maryland it is also Maryland Route 4 (MD 4) ...
in Baltimore, Maryland
*
"Black Wall Street" in Tulsa, Oklahoma
*
"Sweet" Auburn Avenue in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
*
Harlem, New York
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
*
South side of Chicago
The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and w ...
, Illinois
*
Central Avenue, Los Angeles
Central Avenue is a major north–south thoroughfare in the central portion of the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. Located just to the west of the Alameda Corridor, it runs south from the eastern end of the Los Angeles Civic Center do ...
*
"The Deuce" in Richmond, Virginia
*
Black Bottom in Detroit, Michigan (also called "Paradise Valley")
*
"Black Wall Street" in Durham, North Carolina
* Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana
*
Riverside Terrace, Houston
Riverside Terrace is a neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States. It is along Texas State Highway 288 and north of the Texas Medical Center and located near Texas Southern University and University of Houston. There about 20 sections of Riversi ...
*
Black Doctors Row, in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, Pennsylvania
* Black Business District, Walnut Street, Louisville, Kentucky
Criticism
Academic Donald Earl Collins has criticized members of the black middle- and upper-classes for having attitudes and values similar to their white counterparts.
Some in the black community have been very critical of the black upper class community, in particular after the release of Graham's book ''
Our Kind of People''.
Darren Walker of the Rockefeller Foundation says that the behaviors of the black upper classes exclude many from the privileges the group enjoys, arguing "one part of our community seems quite comfortable adopting the exclusive practices of the majority community that for many years kept us out."
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
See also
*
African-American middle class
The African-American middle class consists of African-Americans who have middle-class status within the American class structure. It is a societal level within the African-American community that primarily began to develop in the early 1960s, ...
*
African Americans in Atlanta
Black Atlantans are residents of the city Atlanta who are of African American ancestry. Atlanta has long been known as a center of black wealth, higher education, political power and culture; a cradle of the Civil Rights Movement and th ...
*
American upper class
*
Black elite
The Black elite is any elite, either political or economic in nature, that is made up of people who identify as of Black African descent. In the Western World, it is typically distinct from other national elites, such as the United Kingdom's arist ...
*
Black Ivy League
*
Brown Paper Bag Test
"The Brown Paper Bag Test" is a term in African-American oral history used to describe a colorist discriminatory practice within the African-American community in the 20th century, in which an individual's skin tone is compared to the color of a ...
*
Historically black colleges and universities
Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. ...
*''
Negroland: A Memoir''
*
Social class in the United States
Social class in the United States refers to the idea of grouping Americans by some measure of social status, typically economic. However, it could also refer to social status or location. The idea that American society can be divided into socia ...
*
The Talented Tenth
*
Black billionaires
Black billionaires are individuals who are of predominantly African ancestry with a net worth of at least US$1 billion.
According to the 2021 ''Forbes'' ranking of the world's billionaires, Nigerian business magnate Aliko Dangote had a net wo ...
References
External links
Is There a Black Upper Class?New York Times, 1999
{{United States topics
Wealth in the United States