September Lunch & Learn 2025

Only a few years after Emancipation, the Gilded Age also ushered in the new Black elite, also known as “the colored aristocracy,” “black 400,” ‘upper tens,” and “best society,” as noted by Willard B. Gatewood in his book, Aristocrats of Color: The Black Elite, 1880-1920. In spite of the popularity of books such as Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, Black high society in the 19th century is still an understudied piece of American history.

To be part of the Black elite meant not only wealth, but also education, influence, and political connections. Members of this small community attended schools such as Oberlin, Fisk, Harvard, and Yale. They were doctors, educators, entrepreneurs, and belonged to exclusive social organizations such as “The Social Circle”.