Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored Society in Philadelphia was written by A Southerner – a southern writer who wanted to remain anonymous. This book was originally published in 1841 and is viewed as culturally important. The author attempts to give a detailed account of the higher class of colored people in Philadelphia. He details how higher class coloreds live their daily lives, their social etiquette, education, religions, and how they enjoy art and recreation as other cultures and societies. The writer states the objective is to remove unfounded prejudices of high colored society and to correct certain abuses known to exist between common (white) society and colored society.
The author writes about the manners, education, social customs, political rights, and general remarks of high class colored people. It takes a few pages to get into the flow and the dialect of writing of this era. The usage of words and the excess wording feels to be a hangover from England. A Southerner asserts there are no clear boundaries of higher class, however, the chief distinction are: wealth, education, station, and occupation. This book details a decade old census of sorts which indicate the colored society in Philadelphia owned real estate and paid taxes and rents of $850,000 annually. There were 15 churches, 78 mechanics, 3 Debate Societies, and 64 Mutual Relief of Benevolent Societies.
What is unfortunate in reading this book is that little has changed for African Americans since this book was published. The writer notes that the (white) public is long accustomed to regard the people of color as one consolidated mass, huddled together and without any particular or general distinctions, social or otherwise. The sight of one is the sight of the community. The errors of one are the errors of the community. When speaking of divisions among the higher class coloreds, he notes that the exhibit of the right to an opinion will find the person “cut” from society and the rule of “not with them” as being “against them”.
Reading this book gives the reader insight as to how blacks lived, worked, and desired equality with (white) common society. It appears the author believed if he depicted higher class colored people as “normal”, then common society would see and treat them as “normal” and end discrimination and injustices against them. African Americans are still asking and waiting to be seen and treated as “normal” common and equal members of society since the publication of this book 179 years ago.