
The Original Black Elite
Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten Era
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Narrated by:
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Karen Chilton
About this listen
From New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Dowling Taylor comes this riveting chronicle of a critical yet overlooked chapter in American history: the inspiring rise and calculated fall of the Black elite, from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era - embodied in the experiences of an influential figure of the time, academic, entrepreneur, and political activist and Black history pioneer Daniel Murray.
This cultural biography tells the enthralling story of the high-achieving Black elites who thrived in the nation's capital during Reconstruction. Daniel Murray (1851-1925), an assistant librarian at the Library of Congress, was a prominent member of this glorious class. Murray's life was reflective of those who were well-off at the time.
This social circle included African American educators, ministers, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, US senators and representatives, and other government officials. Among the luminaries were Francis and Archibald Grimke, Blanche Bruce, Pinckney Pinchback, Robert and Mary Church Terrell, Booker T. Washington, and W. E. B. DuBois.
The elite were primed to assimilate into the cultural fabric as Americans first and people of color second. Education was a pearl of great pride, and they sent their children to the best schools - Phillips Academy, Cornell, and Harvard. They belonged to exclusive clubs, cultivated genteel manners, owned opulent homes, threw elaborate parties, dressed to the nines, and summered in special enclaves.
The rug was pulled from under all African Americans when they were betrayed by the federal government as the cost of reconciliation with the South. In response to renewed oppression, Murray and others in his class fought back, establishing themselves as inspiring race activists.
Elizabeth Dowling Taylor's powerful work brings to light a dark chapter of race relations that too many have yet to own.
©2017 Elizabeth Dowling Taylor (P)2018 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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UNBELIEVABLE, BUT EXPECTED
- By Sgt Ryan E. Strickland on 06-18-21
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The Titans of Black History Collection: Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Carter G. Woodson, and Sojourner Truth
- Life and Times of Frederick Douglass; Up from Slavery; The Gift of Black Folk; The Mis-Education of the Negro; and The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
- By: Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, and others
- Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks Cast
- Length: 57 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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America's Black intellectuals have made many important contributions to American intellectual life as writers, historians, educators, and social activists. Various lines of thought, which form the black intellectual traditions, emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries and continue to influence the present.
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This is a must read for generations to come!
- By Rodney E. Woodard on 01-28-22
By: Frederick Douglass, and others
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Defining Moments in Black History
- Reading Between the Lies
- By: Dick Gregory
- Narrated by: James Shippy
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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With his trademark acerbic wit, incisive humor, and infectious paranoia, one of our foremost comedians and most politically engaged civil rights activists looks back at 100 key events from the complicated history of Black America. Defining Moments in Black History is an essential, no-holds-bar history lesson that will provoke, enlighten, and entertain.
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How we see the world matters to how we tell storie
- By Adam Shields on 10-03-18
By: Dick Gregory
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Black AF History
- The Un-Whitewashed Story of America
- By: Michael Harriot
- Narrated by: Michael Harriot
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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America’s backstory is a whitewashed mythology implanted in our collective memory. It should come as no surprise that the dominant narrative of American history is blighted with errors and oversights—after all, history books were written by white men with their perspectives at the forefront. It could even be said that the devaluation and erasure of the Black experience is as American as apple pie. In Black AF History, Michael Harriot presents a more accurate version of American history.
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LOVE It!
- By KMB on 09-29-23
By: Michael Harriot
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The Mis-Education of the Negro
- By: Carter Goodwin Woodson
- Narrated by: Anthony Stewart
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is an unapologetic look into the factors that have caused so many Blacks to think and act in the negative way they do towards themselves and others. This timely body of work is from a man well versed in the American educational system, as well as educational systems throughout the world.
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A Classic and Unexpected Delight
- By Theo Horesh on 02-28-13
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Prince of Darkness
- The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire
- By: Shane White
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In Prince of Darkness, a groundbreaking and vivid account, eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger-than-life story of a man who defied every convention of his time. He wheeled and dealed in the lily-white business world, he married a White woman, he bought a mansion in rural New Jersey, he owned railroad stock on trains he was not legally allowed to ride, and generally he set his White contemporaries' teeth on edge when he wasn't just plain outsmarting them.
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Not A Nice Man, But A Smart One!
- By AlTonya on 07-28-17
By: Shane White
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Slave Narratives Mega Collection: 18 of the Most Moving & Telling Memoirs
- Twelve Years a Slave, Up From Slavery, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, The History of Mary Prince, The Life of an American Slave (Fifty Years in Chains), and more
- By: Solomon Northrup, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass, and others
- Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks cast
- Length: 115 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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This collection contains: Twelve Years a Slave, Up from Slavery, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave, The Life of an American Slave (Fifty Years in Chains), The Experience of Rev. Thomas H. Jones, Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a Slave, From Log Cabin to the Pulpit, and many more.
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I wish it was authentic
- By Noni on 03-11-22
By: Solomon Northrup, and others
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Slavery's Capitalism
- A New History of American Economic Development
- By: Sven Beckert - editor, Seth Rockman - editor
- Narrated by: William Hughes, Kevin Kenerly, Bahni Turpin, and others
- Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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During the 19th century, the United States entered the ranks of the world's most advanced and dynamic economies. At the same time, the nation sustained an expansive and brutal system of human bondage. This was no mere coincidence. Slavery's Capitalism argues for slavery's centrality to the emergence of American capitalism in the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War.
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The volume is so low I can't hear it.
- By Anonymous User on 01-30-18
By: Sven Beckert - editor, and others
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Invisible
- The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America's Most Powerful Mobster
- By: Stephen L. Carter
- Narrated by: Karen Chilton
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen L. Carter delves into his past and retrieves the inspiring story of his grandmother’s life. She was Black and a woman and a prosecutor, a graduate of Smith College and the granddaughter of slaves, as dazzlingly unlikely a combination as one could imagine in New York of the 1930s - and without the strategy she devised, Lucky Luciano, the most powerful Mafia boss in history, would never have been convicted. When special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey selected 20 lawyers to help him clean up the city’s underworld, she was the only member of his team who was not a white male.
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A Moving Biography
- By Jean on 10-31-18
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African Origin of Civilization - The Myth or Reality
- By: Cheikh Anta Diop
- Narrated by: Frank Block
- Length: 9 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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This classic presents historical, archaeological, and anthropological evidence to support the theory that ancient Egypt was a black civilization.
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History told from an honest point
- By Lee on 12-19-21
By: Cheikh Anta Diop
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No Name in the Street
- By: James Baldwin
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
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This stunningly personal document and extraordinary history of the turbulent '60s and early '70s displays James Baldwin's fury and despair more deeply than any of his other works. In vivid detail he remembers the Harlem childhood that shaped his early consciousness, the later events that scored his heart with pain - the murders of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, his sojourns in Europe and in Hollywood, and his return to the American South to confront a violent America face-to-face.
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A strange and terrible vehicle
- By Darwin8u on 02-07-20
By: James Baldwin
What listeners say about The Original Black Elite
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- Melissa
- 09-27-19
awesome
excellent story unknown black history is exciting to read. to know that we did more then what is told is the best knowledge I recommend this book to all people
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11 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 12-25-22
Filing in some holes in our nation’s story
The story relates the struggles of a subset of US society during the rise and shrinking of a portion of our citizenry.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 12-27-22
Now I Know of Daniel Murray...
It was a very interesting listen. I was not aware of the history of Black Washington, DC and I really enjoyed the narration. I would definitely recommend.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ashley N. Martin
- 04-22-24
Black Society / Heritage
This was a very in depth and informative book. It is very refreshing to learn about our rich history and heritage. Must read!!!
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- Kat
- 09-10-24
A beautiful must read of Black people
A beautiful book that’s shares the stories of black people and the history of the creation of traditions, literary works, organizations, legislation, and communities post slavery. A historical guide or potential prediction of the recent 2023 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs Wade and Affirmative Action. A great read and I’d recommend to anyone.
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- Bill
- 11-25-22
The American Story that not been told
The Original Black Elite is a profound historical story that has been shared and is to be shared with all generations of Americans to show that color is not the default mark for intelligence, class, or ingenuity.
Read and share this book.
Thank you
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3 people found this helpful
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- Chase M N
- 09-28-21
Excellent Book
This was such an interesting book. I really enjoyed it. This era’s story definitely deserved to be told. I can’t help but wonder, as a Black American, how the race would’ve been catalyzed if Reconstruction wasn’t rolled back.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Noah Guither
- 07-19-22
Very informative read
This was a very informative read on the life of Daniel Murray and provided many valuable insights into the lives and experiences of the black elite. The experiences of the black elite are often overlooked or not considered in history and this book helped bring that perspective to the forefront. Although this book does not cover everything that took place during that time, it does show the varied and changing experiences of wealthy Black individuals over the course of a person's lifetime.
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- Mona
- 12-14-24
The Black Elite
Did not like ‘almost’ sequential chronological presentation of historical events but I liked the information presented in the grand scheme of historical
experiences of one black family and one man (Daniel Murray) at a marker in time after the civil war.
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- Deidre Jackson
- 02-23-19
Our History
It was an very interesting read . The aspect of culture and the elegance thereof is longed missed within our culture at this time. The selflessness is also missed.
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12 people found this helpful