Certain People is an extensively researched, fascinating, and intimate portrait of America’s black elite which reveals the rarely publicized world of the heritage, conflicts, and characteristics of the black upper class.

Like its white counterpart, the black elite is divided into the nouveaux riches and the Old Guard. Birmingham’s close-ups of the lives of two Chicago multimillionaires—John H. Johnson, president and executive officer of the Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony and several other magazines; and George Johnson (no relation), founder and president of Johnson Products Company, manufacturer of a wide range of black cosmetics such as Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen—illuminate the characteristics of the black nouveaux rich. In addition to the business coups of these archrivals, Birmingham probes their private lives—the way they dress, decorate their homes, eat, and raise their children—to reach an understanding of the self-made black tycoon.

Despite the financial success of John Johnson and George Johnson, these men were not seen as socially acceptable by members of the black Old Guard: families—mostly educators, philanthropists, or society dilettantes—based mainly in Washington, DC. Mirroring the classic battle between established families and newcomers in white society, the black Old Guard admires dignity, discretion, and stability more than wealth. With the help of some of the families themselves, Birmingham traces their ancestry back to the pre–Civil War era and unveils the nuances attendant upon “passing” into white society, upon white ancestors, upon the recognition of the African heritage, and upon membership in the exclusive clubs and organizations that proliferate the black upper class.

As a scholar of black history, genealogy, and sociology, Birmingham offers not only a comprehensive view of the emergence of a stratified black society but also a sensitive portrayal of black-white relationships in business, recreation, social functions, and other spheres of contemporary American society.