The Senators & Socialite: True Story of America's First Black Dynasty

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	• The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty Lawrence Otis Graham HarperCollins, 2006 - 480 pages average customer review:based on 21 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Interesting topic, so-so execution

_The Senator &c._ is the family history of Blanche Kelso Bruce, the first African-American to serve in the United States Senate, during Reconstruction. It's a fine story, and I'm glad to be learning what I am about the Reconstruction years and politics, opportunities and swindles. But the author doesn't exactly excite me. His research seems relatively sound, but his writing is not going to get him any prizes or true fans.

The Senators & Socialite: True Story of America's First Black Dynasty

Excellent book. Very informative, happy to have obtain this great reading material. Book is in excellent condition, received it in a timely manner. I'm very happy with my purchase.

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Intrigue and Disappointment

Lawrence Otis Graham's "The Senator and the Socialite" is an important work. Graham does a wonderful job of detailing the great accomplishments of Black-Americans - much of which you would not ordinarily hear about and should be proud of. However, I am saddened to learn the descendants of such an important historical figure (Senator Blanche K. Bruce) are ashamed of their Black-American heritage and now live as white people.

The Senator and the Socialite

I thought this was a slow starting book,but I ended up really liking the book. I learned so much. Well worth reading.

A Wealthy Family Slowly Falls Into Poverty

The Senator and the Socialite is less about a dynasty and more about a wealthy family degenerating into poverty. Blanche Bruce may have been a powerfull politician, but what power did he realy have? The White establishment could have thrown him away at any time. And his "wealth" came from renting farmland to poor Blacks, so in reality, he was a just another Southern plantation owner who happened to be Black. His children and grandchildren went to Harvard, Radcliff, and Exeter, but what for? Few companies would hire an African-American for a position of responsibility, unless it was to manage a business that catered to African-Americans (like the Dunbar Apartments). Booker T. Washington was right in his philosophy; if you have technical and industrial skills, you're more likely to get steady work. After all, I don't need the services of a Philosophy major, but there's 80 co-ops in my building who'd pay $200 a piece to have their sinks fixed!

In the end, the children turn out to be disasters. Roscoe Bruce Jr, Clara Bruce Jr., and Buril, go to top colleges, do poorly, fail in business, get in trouble wth the law and disgrace themselves. Roscoe Sr. lets a racist pedophile abuse Black schoolgirls, costing him his job as head of the DC colored schools. Then his son mismanages a client's money and winds up in jail. His Daughter marries a Black actor who then decides to pass for White (as does his college friend John Syphax). All in all, the Bruce family were just lazy, spolied, rich brats who ruined themselves. I guess power and priviliege didn't jsut corrupt the Kennedys.

But I have one question....what happened to all these characters later on? What happened to Barrington Guy/Sharma? When did he die? What happened in later years as he passed for White? What happened to Roscoe Jr.? What about his decendants? Where are they now? If only one of the Bruce's decendants turned up at the recent memorial to Blanch Bruce, does that mean they don't know about him, don't care, or are they keeping their ancestry hidden to this day?

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

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