Research Catalog

The original Black elite : Daniel Murray and the story of a forgotten era

Title
The original Black elite : Daniel Murray and the story of a forgotten era / Elizabeth Dowling Taylor.
Author
Taylor, Elizabeth Dowling
Publication
  • New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]
  • ©2017

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2 Items

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
Request for On-site UseRequest Scan

Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.

TextUse in library Sc E 17-924Schomburg Center - Research & Reference
Request for On-site UseRequest Scan

Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.

TextUse in library JFE 17-3181Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
498 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map, plans, genealogical table; 24 cm
Summary
"In the wake of the Civil War, Daniel Murray, born free and educated in Baltimore, was in the vanguard of Washington, D.C.'s black upper class. Appointed Assistant Librarian at the Library of Congress, at a time when government appointments were the most prestigious positions available for blacks, Murray became wealthy through his business as a construction contractor and married a college-educated socialite. The Murrays' social circles included some of the first African-American U.S. Senators and Congressmen, and their children went to the best colleges, Harvard and Cornell. Though Murray and other black elite of his time were primed to assimilate into the cultural fabric as Americans first and people of color second, their prospects were crushed by Jim Crow segregation and the capitulation to white supremacist groups by the government, which turned a blind eye to their unlawful, often murderous, acts. Elizabeth Dowling Taylor traces the rise, fall, and disillusionment of upper-class African Americans, revealing that they were a representation not of hypothetical achievement but what could be realized by African Americans through education and equal opportunities. As she makes clear, these well-educated and wealthy elite were living proof that African Americans did not lack ability to fully participate in the social contract as white supremacists claimed, making their subsequent fall when Reconstruction was prematurely abandoned all the more tragic" -- provided by publisher.
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Biographies.
  • Biography.
  • History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 421-464) and index.
Contents
Prologue -- Up and coming -- The good wife -- The Black elite -- The good life -- The good citizen -- Activist couple -- Backsliding -- Confronting lost ground -- National Afro-American Council -- Black history pioneer -- Courting controversy -- Struggling -- Father and sons -- Disillusioned -- Life's work -- Ironic fruits -- New negro/Old cit -- Epilogue.
Call Number
Sc E 17-924
ISBN
  • 9780062346094
  • 0062346091
OCLC
970397702
Author
Taylor, Elizabeth Dowling, author.
Title
The original Black elite : Daniel Murray and the story of a forgotten era / Elizabeth Dowling Taylor.
Publisher
New York, NY : Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2017]
Copyright Date
©2017
Edition
First edition.
Type of Content
text
still image
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 421-464) and index.
Local Note
Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
Chronological Term
1800-1999
Research Call Number
Sc E 17-924
JFE 17-3181
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