Book Review- Colored People

Henry Louis Gates
Albert A. Knopf
216 pages 1994

Colored People is not a story solely about race, although racism is exhibited throughout the memoir. Written for his two daughters, Henry Louis Gates gives us the opportunity to view the risky predicament of being a colored man in a white world uncertain of his position in the black community. He is able to share painful memories about the impact of racial strife and its effect upon the attitudes in the community.

This book is about the significant folks in the life of Henry Louis Gates during the formative early childhood and teenage years. Throughout these pages, the black scholar, educated at Yale and tenured at Harvard, introduces the reader to characters of his past. During the journey, one benefits from the vivid description of the segregated south and is encouraged to experience life in the small community of Piedmont, West Virginia.

In a segregated south during the civil rights era, many racial battles were fought against an oppressive authority. Racist policies determined housing placement, job opportunities, social interactions and traveling arrangements in Piedmont, as well as the United States, regardless of the Mason-Dixon Line.

During his early years, the contact with white people was from a perspective of inferiority. The bank teller, store owner and foreman at the Mill, a primary employer for colored folks, were major authority figures. Such relationships were imbalanced and tended to provide unhealthy dynamics.

For example, two annual picnics were held for the Mill employees, one for white people and one for colored people. The colored people were thrilled to have their own celebration. Former employees and relatives would travel from all parts of the country to attend the picnic. As a result of the civil rights success, the Mill sponsored one event for all workers. The "separate but equal" doctrine was ruled unconstitutional and therefore forced the Mill administration to combine the two separate picnics into one. As a result, the family atmosphere diminished and it was no longer a significant event for the relatives.

For some time, the church and the barber shop were the two most popular gathering spots in the Piedmont area. Even though Big Mom felt uncomfortable in the presence of Caucasians, she sought comfort in the church with a white Jesus. She protested the attempt to combine the white church with the black congregation, called forced integration, and settled for the white minister to travel a few miles for a late service with the colored folks. An individual may enter the barber shop for a haircut, but would leave with an array of stories, accurate as well as exaggerated.

Colored People is a story that needs to be told about overachievers who are able to claim victory in spite of the enormous odds against them. Skip Gates is qualified to articulate this collection of tales, as no one else can. The reader can rejoice in the accomplishments of this community, while the village of Piedmont can be proud of raising a fine child.

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