Young, Gifted and Diverse - by Camille Z Charles & Douglas S Massey & Kimberly C Torres & Rory Kramer Paperback

About the Book

"Contemporary research on Black Americans has focused mainly on the plight of the poor and paid little attention to internal variation and status differentiation in the broader Black community. In Divergent Currents, the authors explore the backgrounds and experiences of an understudied subset of the Black population in the U.S.: the Black Elite. Although the descendants of enslaved Africans, the children of immigrants, and the offspring of intermarried parents have all contributed to the great diversity of the new Black elite, its otherwise heterogeneous members generally share one trait in common: the possession of a college degree, often from a very selective institution. Given that a college education is essential for advancement in today's globalized, knowledge-based economy, the college campus is now the crucible for elite class formation, no less for Blacks than other social groups. The authors draw on a unique source of data to study the new Black elite in the process of formation at 28 selective institutions of higher education. The baseline survey gathered comprehensive data on subjects' social origins, including detailed information about the family, school, and neighborhoods they inhabited at ages 6, 13, and as seniors in high school, as well as data on their personal perceptions, values, aspirations, and attitudes. This survey data is paired with 78 in-depth interviews with Black undergraduates at two competitive institutions and eleven focus group sessions with 75 students at an Ivy League university. The authors identify and explore seven dimensions of Black diversity (racial identification, skin tone, nativity, generation, region of origin, gender, social class, and prior experiences of segregation). They ultimately aim to understand how intraracial diversity complicates traditional notions of race, class, and social mobility in the new Black professional class"--

Book Synopsis

An in-depth look at the rising American generation entering the Black professional class

Despite their diversity, Black Americans have long been studied as a uniformly disadvantaged group. Drawing from a representative sample of over a thousand Black students and in-depth interviews and focus groups with over one hundred more, Young, Gifted and Diverse highlights diversity among the new educated Black elite--those graduating from America's selective colleges and universities in the early twenty-first century.

Differences in childhood experiences shape this generation, including their racial and other social identities and attitudes, and beliefs about and interactions with one another. While those in the new Black elite come from myriad backgrounds and have varied views on American racism, as they progress through college and toward the Black professional class they develop a shared worldview and group consciousness. They graduate with optimism about their own futures, but remain guarded about racial equality more broadly. This internal diversity alongside political consensus among the elite complicates assumptions about both a monolithic Black experience and the future of Black political solidarity.

Review Quotes

"This book has challenged us to take a more nuanced approach to diversity within the Black community and beyond."---Rebecca C. Franklin, Ethnic and Racial Studies

"An astoundingly thorough deep dive, which the reader is eased into with the help of easily digestible surveys, charts and graphs, interview excerpts and a very comprehensive reference section. . . . An extremely well thought-out, -researched, and -structured look into the lives of people who have had to endure caste-inspired stigma throughout their lives."-- "Library Journal"

About the Author

Camille Z. Charles is the Walter H. and Leonore C. Annenberg Professor in the Social Sciences and professor of sociology and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Rory Kramer is associate professor of sociology and criminology at Villanova University. Douglas S. Massey is the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. Kimberly C. Torres is an affiliated faculty member in organizational dynamics and the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.