American Beach: A Saga of Race, Wealth, and Memory

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In its heyday during the height of segregation, the little resort of American Beach, Florida was the African American Hyannisport, where the crème de la crème of black society came to enjoy what the town motto called "recreation and relaxation without humiliation." These days, it's more like the African American Daytona Beach--that is, visited mostly by partying teenagers who come to drink and get rowdy in the town's deserted streets. What happened between then and now could be fodder for a sociologist's study, but journalist Russ Rymer turns it instead into a grippingly personal story of race, money, greed, and the struggle over who owns--and interprets--cultural memory.

At the heart of Rymer's tale is one of the most fascinating characters to walk the pages of a book this year: MaVynee Betsch, great-granddaughter of Abraham Lincoln Lewis, an African American millionaire and the founder of American Beach. Reared in privilege and culture, sixtyish MaVynee once sang lieder throughout the capitals of Europe. Now she lives the gypsy life in the open air of American Beach, an unforgettable sight in her 18-inch fingernails, cowrie anklets, and five-foot fall of hair. Having given all her money away, MaVynee spends her time evoking the glories of her community's past and railing against the white-bread resorts, whose golf courses and cookie-cutter condos threaten to swallow her beloved beach. The painful irony is that when the enforced humiliation of segregation ended, so too did the cohesiveness of the black commercial and professional community American Beach once represented. As one resident puts it, "First we had segregation, and then integration. Then disintegration."

Rymer's story ripples outward to encompass bygone black Jacksonville, the killing of an unarmed African American by Amelia Island police, the first incorporated black town in the United States, A.L. Lewis's Afro-American Life Insurance Company, and revered Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston. But it never loses focus on its fundamental question, a question with equal relevance for both black and white: "Where did mankind's economic existence and moral existence coincide, and where collide, and where was the boundary between them?" Rymer avoids both ideology and easy answers in this passionate yet even-handed book. --Mary Park

Book Description

In American Beach, award-winning journalist Russ Rymer provides astonishing insights into the meaning of American race relations. Avoiding the easy clichs of victimhood and oppression, he searches for answers through three unexpected, overlapping, intensely personal stories. Ultimately he presents a vision of a nation where the futures of blacks and whites are as linked as their histories, and where black experience offers a key to the struggle of every modern American.

American Beach opens with the killing of an unarmed black motorist by white police on a Florida resort island. It's the emblematic race confrontation of the 1990s, but Rymer's examination turns up everything but the ordinary. His journey leads us through ghostly plantation cemeteries, sance parlors, black resorts, European opera houses, Harlem salons, America's newest tone, and its oldest incorporated black city. We meet black pirated and planters, witness the incendiary death of the world's first black (and pioneer woman) aviator, the boardroom deliberations of the Walt Disney Company, and the posthumous but victorious last crusade of a prominent black novelist.

Along the way, we are guided by the most extraordinary real-life Southern cast since Mightnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, including Florida's first black millionaire and his great-grandfather, a flamboyant pauper who lives on a chaise lounge on the beach, from whence she strives to salvage her history and rescue her imperiled culture. As Rymer brilliantly shows, no matter what corner of America of which walk of life we may be from, it's our culture and our history as well.

Customer Reviews:

A Book to Change One's Views .......2004-11-05

I found this book, in first edition and excellent condition, at the Oakland Library book sale. I paid $3.60 for it and consider it one of the best bargains I've gotten in terms of value. This book needs to be read by anyone attempting to understand black culture, the effects of commercialism and the Disneyfication of our cultural heritage.

Told in a very personal way by a journalist who became fascinated by stories of an enclave of black upper-middle-class families and the society that grew around them in the days before desegregation, it also speaks volumes about our heritage as
Americans, white or Black.

If I got nothing else out of this book -- and I assure you, I did -- Rymer managed to explain as I had never heard it the reasons for the antagonistic, in-your-face angry Black youth that are the
hip-hop nation. In his view, white consumerism created them in search of something "authentic" to grind up and feed into he maw of the commercial pop exploitation machine. He likens them to
the minstrels of old, acceptable, even desirable, stereotypes to keep us from noticing that, at the core, we are all really very much alike.

I can't recommend this book enough. There are passages that may bring tears to your eyes, as they did to mine, eyes jaded by years as a white police officer usually working in non-white
neighborhoods. This is a book that will change the way I look at culture, history and America. May it do the same for you.

Disney vs. democracy.......2003-02-09

I have very mixed feelings about this book.

On one hand the book is very well written by an author who is obviously very intelligent. (He had me feeling intellectually challenged from time to time, and I consider myself to be a pretty bright person.) He presents, again and again, extremely thought-provoking ideas and profound comments about modern society. And in presenting his biting analysis of today's society he provides glimmers of hope that things can be changed for the better.

On the other hand, I found this book to be very depressing. The descriptions of the sins of the past, in the form of slavery and racial segregation and violence against blacks, are chilling. Today's problems, with lingering discrimination and the commercialization of American society, are also saddening. Sometimes I took a break from reading because the book made me so unhappy.

"American Beach" is a collection of four stories, three short ones and one quite long one. All but the last story are based on Amelia Island on the east coast of Florida next to the Georgia border, where the towns of Fernandina Beach and American Beach are. (The last story is based in Eatonville on the outskirts of Orlando, Florida.) And all but the first of the four stories has racial conflicts as a primary theme.

But Mr. Rymer makes it clear that today's racial problems, serious as they are, are not the biggest problems faced by blacks or by American society in general. He sees big business and it's influence on everything to be a greater source of apathy and alienation and disenfranchisement and environmental destruction.

In the view of Mr. Rymer, unbridled capitalism and the "culture of the corporation" are breaking down the values that the founding fathers stood for and that many generations of Americans up until WW II fought for, such as democracy. As an example he tells about the Disney-owned town of Celebration which proclaims itself to be the reincarnation of the old-fashioned American town, but which requires residents to sign a contract in which they let Disney operate the town without them, the residents, having any significant influence!

One of the author's claims is that cultural poverty can be worse than economic poverty. Blacks are especially hard hit by cultural poverty, having lost their roots when they were abducted from Africa. Black attempts to create their own culture often resulted in their best creations being usurped by the dominant white society and their less fortunate attempts being ridiculed by the whites.

But American society in general lacks roots, being a melting pot society. Added to this is the rise in the power of the corporations, who can transform functioning towns into ghettos on the edge of holiday resorts for the rich, and can commercialize and thus de-fang every kind of cultural protest. Bob Dylan becomes Muzak and street gangs and gun-toting rappers become movie fodder and hit entertainers.

Consumer capitalism has turned culture and even history into proprietary products, merchandise for the masses. And very few, other than Mr. Rymer and a few of the people he writes about in "American Beach", have even noticed the danger.

Highly recommended.

PS. I read the hardcover book, which has the subtitle "A Saga of Race, Wealth, and Memory". The paperback edition has the subtitle "How Progress Robbed a Black Town--And Nation--Of History, Wealth, and Power". I'm guessing both subtitles were dreamed up by the publishers' marketing departments in attempts to sell the book to people who want to read about American race conflicts. Shame on them.

Rennie Petersen

A very touching biography and more........1999-02-22

Having just finished "Slaves in the Family" by Edward Ball when I came across this book, I was struck by a completely different slice of black history and the black condition. Here is the story of the great-granddaughter of a black millionaire who leads a very privileged life, attends Oberlin college, has a fairly short but successful career as an opera singer in Europe, and then returns home to see her mother die, the family fortune dissipate and her world fall apart. It is also a plea for historical preservation and environmental protection. A very poignant and yet inspiring true story. I sang with Marvyne Betsch in the College Choir at Oberlin, and can still hear the unique dark timbre of her voice after forty years!

Interesting and informative.......1999-01-12

I bought this book because I grew up hearing stories about the "black" beach near Jacksonville and about the beach lady, MaVynee Betsch, and because I attended Spelman College under the extraordinary leadership of Johnetta Betsch Cole and could never believe "the beach lady" was her sister. Their family history is amazing, and timeless. My mother's side of the family is native to northeastern Florida. Rymer's undertaking to expose the world to the richness of these people is laudable. I learned so much about my history and the history of the place where I'm from that I'd never known. I took the book home with me (FL) for the holidays and my family was so deligted to learn so much about home, and to get reacquainted with the familiar things once known, that we had to go out and get additional copies of the book. It will be a standard in our family for years to come. In short, it is compelling and quite informative. To read this book is to get a true appreciation of a people and their glorious,on-going struggle. I highly recommend American Beach.

Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class

Average customer rating:

WOW! This book made me think.
Such a shame!!
A book I recommend to all my friends
A Need to Read
didn't make it far into the book...

Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class
Lawrence Otis Graham
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty
Black Bourgeoisie: The Book That Brought the Shock of Self-Revelation to Middle-Class Blacks in America
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The Rage of a Privileged Class: Why Do Prosperous Blacks Still Have the Blues?
The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities

ASIN: 0060984384
Release Date: 1999-12-22

Book Description

Debutante cotillions. Million-dollar homes. Summers in Martha's Vineyard. Membership in the Links, Jack & Jill, Deltas, Boule, and AKAs. An obsession with the right schools, families, social clubs, and skin complexion. This is the world of the black upper class and the focus of the first book written about the black elite by a member of this hard-to-penetrate group.

Author and TV commentator Lawrence Otis Graham, one of the nation's most prominent spokesmen on race and class, spent six years interviewing the wealthiest black families in America. He includes historical photos of a people that made their first millions in the 1870s. Graham tells who's in and who's not in the group today with separate chapters on the elite in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Nashville, and New Orleans. A new Introduction explains the controversy that the book elicited from both the black and white communities.

Customer Reviews:

WOW! This book made me think........2007-09-24

This may sound strange, but this book really made me think. Instead of walking away thinking that some blacks think that they are better than others (as some critics have written), I walked away thinking about choices. What makes some people build families and get rich while some do little or nothing?

I thought about the choices my grand parents made. I contacted my grand parents on both sides of my family and ask several questions pertaining to the times.

I asked my father's father what made him go to school. He went to Temple University 50+ years ago; he attended grad school at the University of Maryland where he met my grandmother; he has been Kappa Alpha Psi for over 50 years. Where as my mother's father was a good time charley who never even bought a house for his wife and nine children. He had a good job in sanitation, but he chose to reside in the Robert Taylor homes of Chicago.

To make a long story short, the book helped me to see the power of choice. Even in the face of racism, we (not just A.G. Gaston or Reginald Lewis) are all making choices. That being said, the book is a good read. See if you can get something extra from it.

Such a shame!!.......2007-05-10

It is such a shame that in this day and age there are still some people of color that still feel the need to distance themselves. I actually brought this book about a year after it was published. After reading it the one thing that stuck out to me was the fact that no matter how much I tried as a black woman I would never belong. ( mind you these are a group of black families we are talking about). For so many years we as black people in this country have had to deal with discrimination on all sorts of levels, but to hear that it still exits and in our own communities. I for one am truly saddend. The only answer I can come up with is the need for these people to feel superior to someone.

A book I recommend to all my friends.......2007-04-27

I read this book years ago and loved it. A lot of the places, people, and concepts that Graham discusses were already familiar to me but I learned just as much. This book is insightful, inspiring, and revealing. It illustrates the socio-economic differences in what we term as the Black Race. It was refreshing to see someone capture and present the fact that all "blacks" are not lumped into one big pot. There have always been differences and will continue to be.

A Need to Read.......2006-08-25

This is a reveling look into an almost invisible aspect of black society that has been around for ages, and I for one am impressed. True, there is some unpleasantness in this book regarding the harsh reality of black on black prejudice. But this occurs at all levels of black society and society in general.

What must not be overlooked is the desire and ability achieve and to escape, if at all possible the scars and brutality of being black in a white, racist society. This is especially true when it comes to ones children, namely the children of successful black Americans who desperately want and need to shield them, not only from the ravages of racism, to which young children are especially sensitive and can be seriously marked and marred, but also from the numerous pathologies that are rampant in the black community and are destroying black children by the millions. The children of the black upper classes are not only taught that they can be somebody, but that they must be somebody and that failure is not an option. Thankfully, they can afford not to allow their children's lives to be sabotaged before they reach puberty and have, or did, construct a community in which they could develop into individuals not as adversely affected by entrenched racism and prejudice.

didn't make it far into the book..........2006-08-16

I tried to read this book. Then I flipped ahead and read spots of the book. I could not, as a young Black Anthropology student juggling several more forward thinking and socially relevant books this summer, bring myself to include this backward-thinking, embarrassing 200+ pages of pompous garbage. I have old classmates and distant family members that were actually raised in this way and on a daily basis measure themselves and those around them by this pathetic, haughty litmus test. It disgusts me that this deluded ideology still exists to this day, and we are led through the grandeur of the Black elite by Graham, who justifies much of it as he admits to eventually feeling obligated to get a nose job. This book was offensive at best and frustrating in this day and age to understand. I will grant that the book was accurate in its historical value, but after reading what led to this intra-racism, there is simply no reason to me as to why this should be glorified and perpetuated within Black American culture. Perhaps Graham would have been better off with a more well thought out, less repetitive historical text expounding on just the Introduction through Chapter 2, with research that would be actually useful and insightful from a more scholarly source as well as accounts from these early Black entrepreneurs and their families in ways that don't come off so self-aggrandizing.

Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America

Average customer rating:

Great text on social policy
One of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read
A Wealth of Ideas
problems abound
It Takes A Village (and more)

Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America
Dalton Conley
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0520216733

Book Description

What is more important--race or class--in determining the socioeconomic success of the blacks and whites born since the civil rights triumphs of the 1960s? When compared to whites, African Americans complete less formal schooling, work fewer hours at a lower rate of pay and are more likely to give birth to a child out of wedlock and to rely on welfare. Are these differences attributable to race per se, or are they the result of differences in socioeconomic background between the two groups?
Being Black, Living in the Red demonstrates that many differences between blacks and whites stem not from race but from economic inequalities that have accumulated over the course of American history. Property ownership--as measured by net worth--reflects this legacy of economic oppression. The racial discrepancy in wealth holdings leads to advantages for whites in the form of better schools, more desirable residences, higher wages, and more opportunities to save, invest, and thereby further their economic advantages.
Dalton Conley shows how factoring parental wealth into a reconceptualization of class can lead to a different future for race policy in the United States. As it currently stands, affirmative action programs primarily address racial diversity in schooling and work--areas that Conley contends generate paradoxical results with respect to racial equity. Instead he suggests an affirmative action policy that fosters minority property accumulation, thereby encouraging long-term wealth equity, or one that--while continuing to address schooling and work--is based on social class as defined by family wealth levels rather than on race.

Customer Reviews:

Great text on social policy.......2006-11-30

I originally purchased this book when it came out about 7 years ago and just reread it again. It provides great insight into the inequality between races in this country. Highly recommended.

One of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read.......2001-09-20

This book is both meticulous and very clearly written. Every time I had, while reading Conley's analysis, a nagging question in the back of my head, he went on to address it in far more detail than had even occurred to me.

Perhaps because of this thoroughness, _Being Black, Living in the Red_ fundamentally altered the way I think about certain social policies, and about race and wealth in general. It also interested me in sociology of inequality, a field about which I had known nothing. The book is incredibly informative about a matter of great public importance, but I appreciated that Conley seemed wary of overstating his case. I truly felt I was getting an honest, and extremely skillful, evaluation of the evidence.

Under the circumstances, I'd be hard pressed to do anything but advise you to read this book at the first chance you get.

A Wealth of Ideas.......2001-06-04

This book expands the research base that identifies wealth as a key component of mobility, and an important factor that explains why blacks and whites have divergent outcomes. However, Conley may be overemphasizing the role of wealth, and forgeting that race is still a critical issues. In fact, his models show that wealth is only a small part of the story. A great deal of the unexplained variance in Conley's models may be attributed to discrimination in society. Although Conley mentions this briefly, more attention needs to focus on this aspect the issue. Nevertheless, the discussions of wealth are rich and well developed, making this an important addition to the literature.

problems abound.......2001-02-12

The analysis is sound. This is to say, the examination of the relevant history and current structures, coupled with an examination of effects, is accurate and valid. However, the argument for implications is unsound - dangerously so. It seems that those driven to understand precisely why some people are faced with more challenges than others are usually willing to go the next step - to argue for engineered adjustments, blind to the fact that such programs engineer even more odious, systematic inequities.

It Takes A Village (and more).......2000-02-27

This is truly a groundbreaking book. Dalton Conley finally reveals the key element on pg. 118 in two unassuming little words: reserve stock. This is, ladies and gentlemen of the judging class, what separates the races and classes, NOT skin color or intelligence level. In the absence of such, no one can truly believe (except in fairy tales) that most people can overcome grinding poverty and helplessness to become productive members of society. Aside from mere technical support, that cherished "reserve stock" allows one entrance into arenas not usually penetrable via associations with those generous enough to usher one in. Trying to overcome the obstacles of poverty is like trying to drag a car without snow tires up a steep hill. I commend the youthful yet astute Dalton Conley for his valuable work.

Rich Dad's Escape from the Rat Race: How to Become a Rich Kid by Following Rich Dad's Advice (Rich Dad)

Average customer rating:

Good message, flimsy construction.
Not only for kids
Rich Dad broke the code.
Help Your Kids Save Their Pennies
Rat Race or Financial Freedom

Rich Dad's Escape from the Rat Race: How to Become a Rich Kid by Following Rich Dad's Advice (Rich Dad)
Robert T. Kiyosaki , and Sharon L. Lechter
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!
Cashflow Quadrant: Rich Dad's Guide to Financial Freedom

ASIN: 0316000477

Customer Reviews:

Good message, flimsy construction........2007-02-20

My son asked right off the bat, why the pages aren't numbered and why is it falling apart. Same old Rich Dad messages.....I thought it was worth sharing with him. Pick it up at the library.

Not only for kids.......2006-06-30

Although in cartoons, as is happening to me, in my journey to financial freedom I need my wife to support me (sometimes there will be things most people won't get if they haven't read Kiyosaki before), and specially if your wife doesn't read this kind of literature, buy this book...for her! In less than an hour you'll understand the main message from Kiyosaki.

Rich Dad broke the code........2005-08-05

I ordered this book with a skeptical outlook. The other financial instruction books I purchased for my teen lasted all of ten minutes. This book arrived, she opened it, started reading, and didn't put it down until finished. She was so excited, she called me at work to tell me she had learned about assets, liabilities, expenses, and income. She said the concepts were so simple, she didn't understand why they aren't teaching this in school. Now, she's pointing out investments to me! Rich Dad actually got the attention and respect of a teenager. I'm very impressed.

Help Your Kids Save Their Pennies.......2005-06-22

This is a children's comic book that presents kids with the information that goes way beyond "Save your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves." There are also subtle lessons on values and ethics, too. It shows--pictorially, using two different styles--how a youngster can put the concepts they represent immediately to work. The book goes well beyond the "save your pennies" philosophy I was raised on. The book introduces terms that some kids never hear until they take their first economics class. I liked the presentation style that looks vaguely like a Tim Allen movie--artistic washes, subtle tones. Kids will love the brightly colored segments. More importantly--for the parents at least--they are sure to absorb some sound ideas about ensuring their own futures. The purpose of the book is clear: the sooner you learn to manage your money, the more you'll have to enjoy.

Rat Race or Financial Freedom.......2005-02-04

Robert Kiyosaki's story presents difficult financial concepts in simple English for kids ages 8 and up. The narrative is easy to follow and the illustrations are appropriate to the subject matter. At one point, I felt myself checking my own finances to see if I was on the right track to financial freedom through asset-building versus liability-building!

The book makes readers think about their financial future without resorting to scare tactics. The reader's choice is simple: either continue to run from paycheck to paycheck or create financial building blocks to pave your way to financial independence. The authors warn not to place all your eggs in one basket or spend your pennies on useless junk that will end up costing you more in the end.

The examples are generic with age-appropriate examples such as comic books, bicycles and newspaper routes. The ending is a little overdone, in my opinion, as a child without financial knowledge might not have the wherewithal to open an ice cream stand after one month. Nonetheless, the tone is upbeat and motivating. I highly recommend this comic book for any parent who is willing to help his or her child gain a healthy understanding and long-term relationship with wealth and the benefits it brings.

Christine Louise Hohlbaum, American expat author of Diary of a Mother (2003) and SAHM I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom (May 2005), worked at Putnam Investments once upon a time. Currently, she resides near Munich, Germany with her husband and two children. http://www.diaryofamother.com

A Wealth of Family: An Adopted Son's International Quest for Heritage, Reunion, and Enrichment (Family Success)

Average customer rating:

Heartwarming story
It's That Good!
a must read!
Becoming a Citizen of the World
What would you do if you discovered that you were adopted?

A Wealth of Family: An Adopted Son's International Quest for Heritage, Reunion, and Enrichment (Family Success)
Thomas Brooks
Manufacturer: Alpha Multimedia, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0977462935

Book Description

-- Heartwarming and Inspirational True Story Shows the Power of Love --

This compelling, bestselling account of adoption, reunion and heritage provides a timely and provocative perspective on multicultural families and powerful insights on overcoming racism and poverty.

Brooks grew up as the only child of a struggling single mother in inner-city Pittsburgh. He was battling racial stereotypes at school and searching for a place among his peers. Then he was told at age eleven that he had been adopted as an infant. He did not know it at the time, but Brooks had actually been born to a white biological mother who descended from Lithuanian Jews and a black Kenyan foreign student father.

Years after that stunning revelation, Brooks escaped the ghetto and traveled to search for his heritage. He found his biological mother in London with his previously unknown British siblings. He then located his biological father and extended family in Nairobi. His international search and the resulting reunions have profoundly affected three families in the United States, England, and Kenya.

A Wealth of Family is a "Best Books" Award Winner as selected by USA Book News.

Customer Reviews:

Heartwarming story.......2007-09-03

A Wealth of Family is a gripping chronicle of Thomas Brooks quest to discover the true wealth of family as he reunites with his birth family and in turn discovers his true self. It is inspiring story that will encourage members of the adoption triad and "traditional" families as well. As an adoptive mother, I highly recommend this book. It will help give you a healthy view of open adoption and the reunion experience.

It's That Good!.......2007-07-12

Brooks' captivating writing style coupled with his amazing life story and steadfast approach to life make this book both an entertainment and thought-triggering masterpiece that had me hooked right to the last page.

a must read!.......2007-05-07

I thought this book was inspiring, especially for those seeking their roots. I felt as though I knew the author personally by the end of the story as I went along for the journey with him. It is a must read!

Becoming a Citizen of the World.......2007-04-28

At age eleven, Thomas Brooks learned he was adopted and at first it shook his secure world. At age 25, while pursing his MBA, he decided to find his birth parents to complete the circle of his life. In A Wealth of Family, readers are treated to an international travel log and multicultural experience as we travel with Brooks in discovering his true roots.

Although Brooks was acclimated and culturally African American, he always suspected he might be of mixed heritage. When he received a document from the adoption agency, he was surprised to find that his mother was of Lithuanian Jewish background and his father was from Kenya. His parents had a brief affair while his mother was an undergraduate and his father was a graduate student at Penn State. After assuring his beloved adopted mother, Joan, that, no one would usurp her place in his life, he began to earnestly search for his birth parents.

Brooks grew up in a large extended family in the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania area surrounded by his mother's large family, the Lowrys. His parents divorced when he was four and he had little contact with his father. Brooks spent most of his growing years struggling with poverty because his mother was unable to work to support them. After a series of moves, they settled in Brighton, a white working/middle class suburb of Pittsburgh. After a rough start, Brooks began to excel in school, making excellent grades and was active in sports. He found himself fighting racism and stereotypes at time but preserved and was valedictorian of his high school class and going on to the University of Pittsburgh. Again, he applied himself to his studies and became immersed in a full college experience to include joining the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, a Greek Black organization and other clubs. He pursued engineering and then an MBA at the University of Maryland.

Because his birth mother, Dorothy, left contact information in his file at the adoption agency, he was able to quickly establish contact with her. Dorothy, who was living in England, flew to Houston, where Brooks was then working. They established a rapport and thereafter, Brooks flew to England and met his sister and three brothers. He was received with open arms and they slowly built a relationship, along with his grandmother, Maryan, Dorothy's mother, who was living in Pittsburgh. Dorothy wanted to meet Joan, but he realized it was a delicate situation and it would need more time for the two women, his birth mother and his adoptive mother to meet.

Brooks then took the steps to make contact with his father, Mboga Mageka Omwenga, which was much more difficult. In 1995, he and Dorothy made the trek to Kenya to make his paternal connection. First, they went on a safari to take in the beautiful country and then went on to Nairobi. All he had was a name and the fact that his father was of the Kisii tribe, according to a Kenyan friend in Houston. After a series of word-of-mouth connections, placing an announcement in the newspaper, and a few hits and misses, Brooks connected with his father's daughter, Margaret. She explained the father was out of the area but the two of them became acquainted. Brooks went back to Houston but thereafter started corresponding with his father. He went back to Kenya several months later finally met his father and was warmly received by the entire village and all his relatives, including his 100 year-old grandmother. He slowly established a relationship with his Kenyan family overcoming a few cultural challenges and miscommunications.

After his mother, Joan met Dorothy, the families seemed to blend and accept each other. Brooks came to love and appreciate having three families who all loved and supported him. His world travels served to broaden his understanding of different cultures and heightened his appreciation of his multiracial heritage. While he considers himself African American, he calls himself a world citizen. He learned to value the traits both his birth mother and father passed on to him, such as their intellectual ability.

Part memoir, part family history and genealogy, Brooks has written a memorable account of how race, culture, and family intersect while also recounting his own life lessons. He is a successful businessman living in Atlanta with his wife and family, mentoring inner-city youth and active in several social and civic organizations. There are many stories about bi-racial children but Brooks' story was unique in that it spanned three continents and melded three families to include a wealth of love, forgiveness and acceptance. This book is recommended for those interested in the topics of multiculturalism and adoptees seeking their roots.

Reviewed by Dera R. Williams
APOOO BookClub

What would you do if you discovered that you were adopted?.......2007-02-09

What would you do if you discovered that you were adopted?
A. Abandon the parents that raised you?
B. Immediately search to discover your heritage by any means necessary?
C. Take the time to understand the raw emotions involved and wait for God's voice to go forward.

Thomas Brooks picked option C. He took the high road by respecting and loving his adopted mother, Joan, and waiting until he was in college to begin his search. The adoption agency served as the initial contact when they delivered his request to reunite with his birth mother. Soon after, Dorothy faxed a letter and photo desperately wanting to know her first-born son. Thus begin his journey towards uncovering his biological roots - August 1992.

Over the course of the next few weeks, Thomas communicated with Dorothy uncovering the details surrounding his conception and her decision. Their conversations were open and honest with information flowing in both directions. This made their first face-to-face meeting extraordinary allowing for an immediate soul connection. Thomas took time to nurture the bonds between Dorothy and her family but he wanted to know more about his father. In December of 1994, they made the long trip to Kenya determined to find Mboga, his biological father.

A WEALTH OF FAMILY is a carefully crafted story of finding your biological identity while accepting and learning different cultures. Brooks details how to carefully heal emotional wounds and develop loving relationships with all people involved in making him who he is today. A WEALTH OF FAMILY should serve as a how-to-guide to enrich family ties; investigate family background and loving all of that makes you unique. This uplifting book is not only for those that have been adopted but also for anyone that has family issues that need to be resolved. This book proves that family is much more than those that live under your same roof.

Reviewed By - Deltareviewer for Real Page Turners

American Beach: How "Progress" Robbed a Black Town--and Nation--of History, Wealth, and Power

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Disney vs. democracy
Shared Values

American Beach: How "Progress" Robbed a Black Town--and Nation--of History, Wealth, and Power
Russ Rymer
Manufacturer: Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Discrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

An American Beach for African Americans
American Beach: A Saga of Race, Wealth, and Memory

ASIN: 0060930896

Book Description

"First we had segregation. Then integration. Then disintegration."-- resident, American Beach

Avoiding the easy clichés of victimhood and oppression, award-winning journalist Russ Rymer brings to life the stark conflict between whites and blacks in the United States today. Through three connected lives in and around northeast Florida's black resort town of American Beach--an unarmed black motorist killed by a white policeman; the great-grandfather of Florida's first black millionaire, who lives on the beach with next to nothing; and prominent Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston--Rymer presents a vision of a nation where the futures of both races are as linked as their histories, where the lost record of heroic black enterprise and prominence offers a key to the struggles of every modern American.

Customer Reviews:

Disney vs. democracy.......2003-02-09

Shared Values.......2001-01-17

Russ Rymer has composed a series of three essays bound together by a theme of black cultural identity and its often sad conflict with a dominant (or at least more assertive) white culture.

The major essay, composing over half of the book, is the story of MaVynee Betsch. She is a rather eccentric older women who has taken as her life's cause the preservation of a former beach resort of the black middle and upper class. The resort was developed by her father, A.L. Lewis, the millionaire owner of a black insurance business from the 1920s to the 1950s. Rymer, who is white, does a good job of developing the relevance of the resort to the black culture of the time, while providing the historical context for its existence. Both Mr. Lewis's insurance company and the beach resort were the results of white exclusion of blacks, and both met their demise with the legal end of that exclusion. Miss Betsch can't save the insurance company, but she makes amazing strides at preserving American Beach. The essay is long, with many apparent digressions, but the author's sympathy for the Miss Betsch and her amazing character carry it along.

The main essay is preceded by an account of the tragic end to the life of a 33-year-old black man, Dennis Wilson, by a policeman's bullet at a traffic stop. Mr. Rymer develops the man's background and the events leading up to the sad ending as well as its effect on the survivors, both in Mr. Wilson's family and among the policemen involved. Its place in the book as the lead essay is to set the tone of conflict between two cultures, black and white, that basically have the same dreams and values. The story has been and is being replayed in communities all over the country and is now becoming a public policy issue known as racial profiling. To me, Rymer's point is that whites must make an effort to view the issue from the perspective of black people.

The third essay is the best in the book, and is worth reading by itself. It addresses the preservation of the town of Eatonville in central Florida, which has become a symbol of celebration of black American culture. Mr. Rymer compares it with the commercial effort of the Disney conglomerate to develop the planned community of Centennial nearby. Centennial attempts to recreate the past, while Eatonville's citizens succeed in preserving their past. The story again points out the shared values of the two cultures, and the importance of preserving the black culture.

Book Description

The award-winning Black Wealth/White Wealth offers a powerful portrait of racial inequality based on an analysis of private wealth. Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro analyze wealth--total assets and debts rather than income alone--to uncover deep and persistent racial inequality in America, and they show how public policies fail to redress the problem. Compelling and informative, Black Wealth/White Wealth is pioneering research. It is a powerful counterpoint to arguments against affirmative action and a direct challenge to our present social welfare policies.

Customer Reviews:

Great Myth Buster.......2007-07-20

This was very well written and had an abundant series of examples to support the authors' main point--with references to government documents, tables, graphs. Oliver and Shapiro can be extremely repetitive in restating their thesis, but, overall, the book was very eye-opening and perhaps a little depressing.

You'd make it a point not invest the majority of your wealth in the home and car after reading this book.

A Sound Attack on the Middle-Class Myth.......2000-05-29

The arguement that the past thirty years have resulted in a closing of the gap between whites and blacks seems untenable after reading this book. Using wealth instead of income as a measure of success and progress, Oliver and Shapiro argue that glaring inequalities still exist and may actually be growing. Moreover, since creating wealth is far more difficult when one has none to begin, the authors argue that such inequalities are sure to continue unless significant changes are made to the social safety net. These premises certainly call into question the notion of a vibrant black middle class.

Overall, I found the book to be scholarly, yet accessible to those who don't hold a Ph.D. in research methodology. The information was nicely balanced; the interviews complemented the extensive survey data and everything was clearly presented. My only complaint is that the statistical information was not presented in the appendix with the tables. This would have been useful and meaningful to academics reading the book. That being said, the thesis is a profound one, and for all those with an interest in social equity and social policy this is a must-read.

The Wealth of Races: The Present Value of Benefits from Past Injustices (Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies)
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The Wealth of Races: The Present Value of Benefits from Past Injustices (Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies)

Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Cultural | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Discrimination & Racism | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Social Groups | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Economics | Business & Finance | New & Used Textbooks | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0313257531
Release Date: 2002-12-24

Book Description

This collection of essays examines the question of how injustices of the past affect entire groups of people today and outlines the current beneficiaries of these injustices. Although discriminatory practices can be based on ethnicity, religion, and gender, this book focuses on one important type--racial discrimination--and deals with the way it affects both blacks and whites. The authors address the question from different perspectives and, although there is no real consensus as to what extent unjust enrichments currently exist because of past discrimination, the focus of several essays is on the need to systematically and equitably redistribute wealth. In beginning to explore these questions, the volume addresses the larger issues of how the costs and benefits of past practices can be measured and how historical injustices should affect current public policy matters. The volume is organized in a straightforward manner intended to create an integrated discussion. An introductory essay charts the development of the project and offers a summary and critique of each essay. The first section explores the issue of slavery and current policy and considers the caution required when developing policy based on disputed models and assumptions. The second section examines the economic impact of slavery and discrimination on the functioning of the labor market. In the final section, some of the implications of redistribution policies are considered in relation to the various cost and benefit analyses. A final essay and conclusion sum up the study and outline the broad policy setting in which this work can take place. The book will be an important resource for courses in history, sociology, and public policy and an important addition to public and university libraries.

Black Wealth/ White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality

Average customer rating:

Miles to Go Before We Rest

Black Wealth/ White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality
Thomas Shapiro
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Macroeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy
The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality
America Unequal (Russell Sage Foundation Books at Harvard University Press)
American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass
When Work Disappears : The World of the New Urban Poor

ASIN: 0415913756

Book Description

Black Wealth/White Wealth offers a powerful portrait of racial inequality based on an analysis of private wealth. Taking issue with those who point to an expanding black middle class as evidence of greater racial equality, Black Wealth/White Wealth demonstrates how an analysis of wealth--total assets and debts rather than income alone--uncovers a qualitatively different story about race in America. Providing a comprehensive examination of how material assets are created, expanded and preserved, authors Oliver and Shapiro reveal the persistent and deep economic divide between blacks and whites.

Black Wealth/White Wealth charts the ways inequality has been structured over many generations through the same systematic barriers that have affected blacks throughout their history in America--the legacy of slavery, history of low wages, poor education, restriction of blacks as economic free agents. Oliver and Shapiro examine how and why low blackentrepreneurship, limited access to capital, red-lining practices, local and state policy, the rise of the modern suburb and the making of the urban ghetto have discouraged and impaired the ability of many blacks to accumulate wealth and opportunities for a better life.

Combining quantitative data from over 12,000 households and in-depth interviews with a range of black and white families, the authors measure and conceptualize the racial face of wealth in America. The findings uncover vast differences between blacks and whites: 63% of black households have no financial assets, more than twice the rate of whites; nearly three-quarters of black children grow up in households without any financial resources; the white middle class could support its present standard of living for more than four months without a steady stream of income while the typical black middle class household does not have enough wealth to survive a month. The recent movement of blacks into middle class occupations and gains in educational attainment have not led to commensurate increases in wealth. The racial legacy of the past is etched in present day deprivation of wealth. The authors argue that black achievement at any given level not only requires a greater effort and provides fewer opportunities along the way, but also bestows substantially diminished rewards.

The final section of Black Wealth/White Wealth identifies and explores the factors, processes and structures behind the vast inequality between the two races and analyzes why wealth portfolios for blacks and whites of equal stature and accomplishment vary so differently. Pointing up the failure of current public policies to redress the problem--because they are based on a restrictive concept of income--the authors' analysis provides insight into some of the real reasons behind racial inequality and articulates ways to link opportunity structures to policies that promote asset formation and narrow the racial wealth gap.

Customer Reviews:

Miles to Go Before We Rest.......2001-12-22

This book is a fascinating study of the differences between the wealth held by Blacks and Whites in the United States. A historical perspective is provided, yet the book makes clear how the momentum of past actions continue though the present. It was this facet of the book that provided the greatest emotional impact. The authors did an excellent job of stressing the differential effects of income and wealth, and how wealth is by far the better measure for examining economic well-being. The data was broken down and explained according to education, income, housing, and many other variables. Case studies helped to put poignant "faces" on the facts to show how Blacks have been impacted by the differing conditions that they experience.

While it is not hard to find examples to the contrary, as I was reading this book, I noticed a growing sense of discomfort with the frequency with which the two races were discussed and compared monolithically. It is not difficult to view one race as victim and the other as oppressor within a historical perspective, but I found myself wanting to believe that it is individuals and groups in the present who decide whether to overcome adversities and utilize opportunities. Unfortunately, this book shows how much further the United States must go to achieve equal opportunities of economic mobility.

Book Description

The growing number of immigrants living and working in America has become a controversial topic from classrooms to corporations and from kitchen tables to Capitol Hill. Many native-born Americans fear that competition from new arrivals will undermine the economic standing of low-skilled American workers, and that immigrants may not successfully integrate into the U.S. economy. In Color Lines, Country Lines, sociologist Lingxin Hao argues that the current influx of immigrants is changing America's class structure, but not in the ways commonly believed.

Drawing on 20 years of national survey data, Color Lines, Country Lines investigates how immigrants are faring as they try to accumulate enough wealth to join the American middle class, and how, in the process, they are transforming historic links between race and socioeconomic status. Hao finds that disparities in wealth among immigrants are large and growing, including disparities among immigrants of the same race or ethnicity. Cuban immigrants have made substantially more progress than arrivals from the Dominican Republic, Chinese immigrants have had more success than Vietnamese or Korean immigrants, and Jamaicans have fared better than Haitians and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, many of these immigrant groups have acquired more wealth than native-born Americans of the same race or ethnicity. Hao traces these diverging paths to differences in the political and educational systems of the immigrants' home countries, as well as to preferential treatment of some groups by U.S. immigration authorities and the U.S. labor market. As a result, individuals' country of origin increasingly matters more than their race in determining their prospects for acquiring wealth. In a novel analysis, Hao predicts that as large numbers of immigrants arrive in the U.S. every year, the variation in wealth within racial groups will continue to grow, reducing wealth inequalities between racial groups. If upward mobility remains restricted to only some groups, then the old divisions of wealth by race will gradually become secondary to new disparities based on country of origin. However, if the labor market and the government are receptive to all immigrant groups, then the assimilation of immigrants into the middle class will help diminish wealth inequality in society as a whole.

Immigrants' assimilation into the American mainstream and the impact of immigration on the American economy are inextricably linked, and each issue can only be understood in light of the other. Color Lines, Country Lines shows why some immigrant groups are struggling to get by while others have managed to achieve the American dream and reveals the surprising ways in which immigration is reshaping American society.

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