Black Texans: A History of Negroes in Texas, 1528-1971 (review)

274CIVIL WAR HISTORY of black Ufe in these areas. In doing so he performs the valuable service of showing that in the North as weU as the South, racial conditions in die late nineteenth century were incredibly diverse. Another unique contribution is his fascinating discussion of the Negro "blue-vein" elite, which existed as a cohesive group until about 1900. In exploring these and other themes, Gerber is always sensitive to the nuances of racial attitudes and class distinctions. For the most part, his book is a model of clarity and balanced judgment. A few of his statements of fact will bear scrutiny. Gerber's claim that twenty-five to thirty percent of Ohio blacks were middle class and another five percent upper class seems inflated, even for the large cities. It is not true that "all but ä handful" of blacks were barred from the skilled trades in Cleveland by the early 1900's. Was black lodge membership limited solely to the middle and upper class, as Gerber contends? I think the employed working class also participated in these organizations to some extent. Finally, his conclusion that "black opposition to reform bore little resemblance to that of deeply entrenched, machine-affiliated elements among white Republicans " (pp. 340-41) is dubious; wider reading in urban history and black ghetto politics would have proven useful at this point. The book is very thoroughly researched; particularly impressive is the use of obscure black newspapers. I was bothered, however, by the failure to cite very many general secondary sources. At no point does Gerber cite Spear, Drake and Cayton, Michael Les Benedict , or Stephan Themstrom, for example, although the works of all four are relevant at times. More striking is his complete avoidance of any comparison between conditions in Ohio and Indiana, although much of Emma Lou Thombrough's The Negro in Indiana (1957) covers a similar time period. These faults do not detract noticeably from Gerber's achievement . He has produced a study of lasting value that should be consulted by all students of race relations history. Kenneth L. Kusmer Temple University Bhck Texans: A History of Negroes in Texas, 1528-1971. By Alwyn Barr (Austin: Jenkins Publishing Company; The Pemberton Press, 1973. Pp. xi, 259. $8.50.) Although there has been a great outpouring of material in the last decade in relation to Afro-Americans little has been published concerning blacks in Texas. And much of what has been written that passes for Texas black history is really an exercise in race relations and tells us litde, if anything significant, about what Afro- BOOK REVIEWS275 Texans were doing or how they were attempting to create a life style of their own in a racist and extremely violent society. There are many records outside the Lone Star state which local historians have failed to consult or ignored because they did not deem them of the quality of their own state manuscripts. They exist, however, from Bowdoin College to the National Archives and Library of Congress to the Southern Historical Collection, among others. This has perhaps been the single major drawback in writing Texas black history aside from the racial bias of the historians themselves. Alwyn Barr's Bhck Texans is a broad based survey of AfroTexans from 1528 until 1971 which is intended for the lay reader. There is litde original material that will aid the serious historian. Because of the limited secondary sources that Barr had to draw upon it is somewhat surprising that he was able to accomplish as much as he has. It must be emphasized, though, that Bhck Texans tells us as much, if not more, about what whites did to blacks than actually dealing with what Texas blacks were doing for and by themselves. There is, moreover, basically no conceptual framework that ties any of the cultural or social traditions of the black community together. At times they seem to exist in a vacuum, with only white society impinging upon them, but they created and contributed more to Texas than is often realized. Barr does add to our knowledge but his ideas are not strongly nor effectively presented. Because he covers such a vast period, Barr can only...