America Behind The Color Line
Dialogues with African Americans
Chapter One
Ebony Towers
When I was growing up in the fifties, I could never have imagined that one of
Harvard's most respected departments would be a Department of Afro-American
Studies and that twenty professors would be teaching here at the turn of the
century. Our experience at Harvard is just one instance of a much larger
phenomenon. Since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968, individual
African Americans have earned positions higher within white society than any
person black or white could have dreamed possible in the segregated 1950s. And
this is true in national and local government, in the military and in business,
in medicine and education, on TV and in film. Virtually anywhere you look in
America today, you'll find black people. Not enough black people, but who can
deny that progress has been made? In fact, since 1968, the black middle class
has tripled, as measured by the percentage of families earning $50,000 or more.
At the same time-and this is the kicker-the percentage of black children ... read full excerpt from America Behind The Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans ebook
