American Promise Further Inquiry Resources
This is a list of resources- books, media, articles & websites- that are connected to the movie as well as the topics & subjects it highlights. Before this list is a quote I came across in my discovery process which I find to be a great place to begin to get a grounded understanding of what the term "Black Middle Class" even encompasses.
Please comment with any additional resources you know of & think it owuld be beneficial to share. I will add them to the list & gladly give you credit for your contribution to the knowledge pool.
African Americans and Class - Barbara Smith
"Class identity in the Black community is complex and often confusing. It cannot be evaluated by using measures identical to those used for whites. If the white upper class is made up of captains of corporations, there is no black equivalent. You might have the person who runs the black insurance company, but that's not the same as Ford Motor company.
During segregation, education levels did not result in the income level you'd expect. So class had more to do with values and behaviors. I describe myself as coming from a working-class family, based on income level and occupation. Most people in my family were well-educated but did manual and domestic work, not the kind of work their training was for. So your job title didn't necessarily correlate with your relative status in a community that is economically and racially oppressed. We were lower-middle-class by education and status, even while we were working-class by income.
There were also people who were genuinely middle-class in the black community, black business owners and doctors. The true black bourgeoisie I find problematic, as alien to me as I perhaps am alien to someone working as a hospital orderly. They are generally not radical, because the system worked for them, and when the system works for you, you often don't question. "I can make it, my family made it, what's so bad about living in the U.S.?"
BOOKS
- The New Jim Crow by Michele Alexander
- Slavery By Another Name by Randall Blackmonn
- Post Traumatic Slave Disorder: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury & Healing by Dr. Joy DeGruy
- Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg (self-awareness, interpersonal communication)
- The Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller
- Black Pickett Fences by Mary Patillo
MEDIA
An extended conversation with directors, husband and wife team, Joe Brewster and Michelle Stephenson, whose American Promise, covered 13 years of their lives as they document their son, Idris and his best friend, Seun's educational journey kindergarten to high school in one of this nation's most prestigious private schools. What is America's Promise to its citizens and does its educational system uphold this for these families? American Promise takes this nation to task as it shows how even among the best schools, it is still not doing its best for its black boys. - from website
Mary Pattillo discusses the rarely studied and often overlooked African American middle class. Discover the history of the black middle class, learn about conflicts between middle class and poor African Americans, and find out how the election of President Obama has altered the dialogue. - Youtube video description
"Soledad O'Brien: Do you think most Americans have no clue that privileged, wealthy, well connected black people exist in decent sized numbers?
Dr. Carlotta Miles (Psychologist): We're invisible.
O'Brien: Why?
Dr. Miles: Because we don't match the stereotype. The stereotype for Black Americans is poverty, failure, victimization & mediocrity." - transcripted except
ARTICLES
"What fascinates me about “American Promise” though is how the parents—particularly the filmmakers—expected, with no irony, that a majority white and super privileged space not just educate but also nurture and support their black children. That’s different. Why would a black person expect that level of care and love from a historically white, elite institution? It got me thinking about whether my crew from the late 80s and early 90s and our parents expected the same. And if they didn’t, is “American Promise” demonstrating a kind of progress with this demand or exhibiting a post-racial brand of naivete? I chatted with a few alums to try to figure it out." - excerpt
"While sharing coffee one day with a colleague and friend, William “Sandy” Darity Jr., we coined a new, emerging group of single and living-alone (SALA) households in the black middle class: the “Love Jones Cohort.” Personal experiences as a member of the Love Jones Cohort help shape, inform and drive my research on this emerging group within the black middle class." - excerpt
"But schools’ efforts to attract minority students haven’t always been matched by efforts to truly make their experience one of inclusion, students and school administrators say. Pervading their experience, the students say, is the gulf between those with seemingly endless wealth and resources and those whose families are struggling, a divide often reflected by race." - excerpt
WEBSITES
- Colorlines
- Black Girl Dangerous
- The Good Men Project
- Teaching Tolerance
- Black in America
- PBS POV
