Waking from the Dream: My Life in the Black Middle Class

By Sam Fulwood, Sam Fulwood III, Sam Fullwood

Book Overview

Sam Fulwood was an integration baby. He came of age during the post-civil rights era, a time when middle-class blacks--many carrying the scars of segregation and the struggles of the movement--wholeheartedly embraced a belief in the unlimited possibilities available to the new generation. The son of educated, prosperous parents, Fulwood shared their dreams: he excelled at integrated schools and believed in the promise of a color-blind America. Waking from the Dream is the powerful chronicle of his disillusionment with that dream. Like other high-achieving black men and women who defied the assumptions of society to become respected members of their communities and professions, Fulwood learned that assimilation into mainstream America was at best superficial, at worst a betrayal of his own individuality and values. He realized that race would always be the most vital component of his identity, one that would continue to define him in a suspicious, often hostile, white world. As he describes his move into the self-protected, isolated cocoon of the black middle class, a world separate from poor blacks and all whites, Fulwood issues a strong warning, "I can't escape the thought that white America, which stopped short of embracing middle-class blacks at the moment we wanted inclusion, may have already lost its opportunity."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385478232
• ISBN13: 9780385478236
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Very challenging read

As a middle class white male from the deep south, I was surprised with each chapter of Awaking from the Dream. My family was part of the subculture of integration, we used the phrase "a credit to their race" and spoke of inclusion and integration. Until reading this book, I thought anyone could pull themselves up "by the bootstraps" and life would turn out okay. To find that life does not turn out alright, that inclusion is hollow, that certain values are lost in the pursuit of this dream left me shocked and saddened. Mr. Fulwood's angst poured through each page, and although he has achieved much in life, his provocative portrayal of life in the black middle class brought up more than words can express.Certainly he is living the dream of comfort and prosperity, but at what cost? It will take more than having his daughter play with black skinned dolls to make this life of his feel right, more than going back home to find the old schoolmates living well in white society. It will take all of us working toward an understanding of our racial and exclusive behavior, working to destroy these walls and accepting each other for our merits and our flaws. I am not naive enough to believe this will happen in Mr. Fulwood's lifetime, nor in mine, but this book has caused me to question the ideals I hold dear. We are not all "white devils", but we also are not changing the basic rules of our society either. This book is challenging to anyone who reads it slowly for the moral content and the implications of our elder's intentions.

Open, honest, real. What we all feel, but don't say aloud.

It's difficult to read a book by someone you know personally and remain objective. I made it a point to remain so during my read. Sam Fulwood represents a growing segment of the American populace. His book speaks for many of us who belong to the segment, but who cannot express as eloquently what we feel as he did in his memoir. There were areas where I felt he could have been MORE vocal, more expressive, but overall, there are things that all Black Americans can learn from his experiences interacting with White America. The chapter on South Africa is by far the best to me. I wanted to catch the first plane to Johanesburg. For those who don't know Sam, it's a slow read, but it builds nicely to it's conclusion. For those of us who know Sam, it's worth a second read. Savor it the second time around.

touching

his words touch the souls of many black man or woman. he put into words what so many could not say.there or very few words that can tell you how much i enjoyed this book. i wish that this author would continue with his writing about the black man of today. and where we can go from yeesterday into today.