A fresh perspective on African American history.
Uncovering “something new and surprising about New York City.”
Australian historian White draws on archival sources, primarily 19th-century newspapers and District Attorney’s Indictment papers, to create a richly detailed picture of Black people in antebellum New York. The book is a “a sequel of sorts,” he writes, to Somewhat More Independent: The End of Slavery in New York City, 1770-1810 (1991). Beginning in the 1810s and continuing into the 1840s, the city, he discovered, attracted “both free African Americans and fleeing enslaved men and women.” Dispelling the idea that the end of slavery meant poverty and destitution for Blacks, White contends that in New York, they created a vibrant culture, transforming city streets into places of “style, performance, and drama.” For example, “the Black stroll,” which took place on Broadway on Sunday afternoons, featured “dandies and dandizettes” who flaunted their freedom by donning fashionable outfits. Cellars and basements became sites for dancing, gambling, “cook shops,” “oyster cellars,” and residences. Although dance cellars were “boisterous dives,” Blacks also staged formal balls, which appealed to a more elite social stratum. White vividly portrays a host of individual New Yorkers, some who became successful entrepreneurs, many who eked out a living as oysterers, street-food sellers, or proprietors of underground eateries. Others took to gambling or confidence schemes, fortune telling, or sex work. Music and theater featured strongly in Black culture: A key figure was the fiddler, White asserts, and New York saw the creation of a Black drama company and the first theater built by and for Blacks. In 1827, the first Black newspaper appeared. As the century wore on, though, the “edgy, vital exuberance” of Black culture fomented “increasingly virulent racism,” leading to calls for segregation. Transformation of the city’s residential patterns, an influx of European immigrants, and willingness on the part of authorities to return fugitive slaves all combined to quash a once-flourishing community.
A fresh perspective on African American history.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781324095088
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A welcome new version of a publication that is no less important now than it was in 1967.
A timely distilled version of the powerful report on racism in the U.S.
Created by Lyndon Johnson’s executive order in 1967, the Kerner Commission was convened in response to inner-city riots in cities like Newark and Detroit, and its findings have renewed relevance in the wake of the George Floyd verdict and other recent police brutality cases. The report, named for Otto Kerner, the chairman of the commission and then governor of Illinois, explored the systemic reasons why an “apocalyptic fury” broke out that summer even in the wake of the passage of significant civil rights and voting acts—a response with striking echoes in recent events across the country. In this edited and contextualized version, New Yorker staff writer Cobb, with the assistance of Guariglia, capably demonstrates the continued relevance and prescience of the commission’s findings on institutionalized discriminatory policies in housing, education, employment, and the media. The commission was not the first to address racial violence in the century, and it would not be the last, but the bipartisan group of 11 members—including two Blacks and one woman—was impressively thorough in its investigation of the complex overarching social and economic issues at play. “The members were not seeking to understand a singular incident of disorder,” writes Cobb, “but the phenomenon of rioting itself.” Johnson wanted to know what happened, why it happened, and what could be done so it doesn’t happen “again and again.” Of course, it has happened again and again, and many of the report’s recommendations remain unimplemented. This version of the landmark report features a superb introduction by Cobb and a closing section of frequently asked questions—e.g., “How come nothing has been done about these problems?” The book contains plenty of fodder for crucial national conversations and many excellent ideas for much-needed reforms that could be put into place now.
A welcome new version of a publication that is no less important now than it was in 1967.Pub Date: July 27, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63149-892-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fiery, eloquent call to action for White men who want to be on the right side of history.
A Black man speaks hard truths to White men about their failure to dismantle systemic racism.
A “child of the Black bourgeoisie,” journalist Ross first learned “the shadow history of Black revolutionary struggle” in college. He accepted that he “directly benefited from the struggle that generations of Black folks had died in the name of, yet I wasn’t doing anything to help those who hadn’t benefited.” The author calls the White men of his generation, Gen X, to also recognize their complicity and miseducation. “We were fed cherry-picked narratives that confirmed the worthlessness of Black life,” he writes, “The euphemistic ‘culture of poverty,’ not systemic oppression, was to blame for the conditions in which so many Black people lived.” The story that White people have been told about Black people is “missing a major chapter,” and Ross thoroughly elucidates that chapter with a sweeping deep dive into decades of American social history and politics that is at once personal, compelling, and damning. Through a series of well-crafted personal letters, the author advises White men to check their motivations and “interrogate the allegedly self-evident, ‘commonsense’ values and beliefs” that perpetuate inequality and allow them to remain blissfully unaware of the insidiousness of racism and the ways they benefit from it. Ross condemns the “pathological unwillingness to connect the past with the present” and boldly avoids the comfortable “both sides” rhetoric that makes anti-racism work more palatable to White people. “It is on you,” he writes, “to challenge the color-blind narratives your parents peddle.” The letters are consistently compelling, covering wide ground that includes the broken criminal justice system, gentrification, and the problem with framing equity work as “charity.” Finally, Ross offers practical guidance and solutions for White men to employ at work, in their communities, and within themselves. Pair this one with Emmanuel Acho’s Uncomfortable Conversations With a Black Man.
A fiery, eloquent call to action for White men who want to be on the right side of history.Pub Date: June 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-27683-4
Page Count: 240
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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