Audio only
The Original Black Elite
Daniel Murray and the Story of a Forgotten EraBy Elizabeth Dowling TaylorNarrated by Karen ChiltonLength16h 46m
About this audiobook
In this outstanding cultural biography, the author of the New York Times bestseller A Slave in the White House chronicles a critical yet overlooked chapter in American history: the inspiring rise and calculated fall of the black elite, from Emancipation through Reconstruction to the Jim Crow Era—embodied in the experiences of an influential figure of the time, academic, entrepreneur, and political activist and black history pioneer Daniel Murray.
In the wake of the Civil War, Daniel Murray, born free and educated in Baltimore, was in the vanguard of Washington, D.C.’s black upper class. Appointed Assistant Librarian at the Library of Congress—at a time when government appointments were the most prestigious positions available for blacks—Murray became wealthy through his business as a construction contractor and married a college-educated socialite. The Murrays’ social circles included some of the first African-American U.S. Senators and Congressmen, and their children went to the best colleges—Harvard and Cornell.
Though Murray and other black elite of his time were primed to assimilate into the cultural fabric as Americans first and people of color second, their prospects were crushed by Jim Crow segregation and the capitulation to white supremacist groups by the government, which turned a blind eye to their unlawful—often murderous—acts. Elizabeth Dowling Taylor traces the rise, fall, and disillusionment of upper-class African Americans, revealing that they were a representation not of hypothetical achievement but what could be realized by African Americans through education and equal opportunities.
As she makes clear, these well-educated and wealthy elite were living proof that African Americans did not lack ability to fully participate in the social contract as white supremacists claimed, making their subsequent fall when Reconstruction was prematurely abandoned all the more tragic. Illuminating and powerful, her magnificent work brings to life a dark chapter of American history that too many Americans have yet to recognize.
Audiobook details
GenrePsychology, History, Biography and Memoir
Length16 hrs 46 mins
Narrated byKaren Chilton
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateAug 25, 2026
LanguageEnglish
AretéBrian Johnson19h 57m$35
Ullathin KuralPrem Rawat8h 17m$18 · $0.00
Vax FactsPaul Thomas MD, Deedee Hoover10h 26m$25
I Am The StormJanice Dean9h$8 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
TerraformPropaganda5h 39m$24 · $0.00
Hour of the HeartIrvin D. Yalom, Benjamin Yalom8h 19m5 (1)$26 · $0.00
The Thomas Sowell ReaderThomas Sowell14h 51m$25
So You Want to Talk about RaceIjeoma Oluo7h 41m$17
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m$29 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m$26 · $0.00
As a JewSarah Hurwitz8h 36m$26 · $0.00
Burn the HaystackJennie Young, PhD9h 30m$29 · $0.00
Woman and the New Race (Annotated)Margaret Sanger6h 30m$2 · $0.00
Good InsideBecky Kennedy9h 55m$29 · $0.00
Du Bois: EssaysW.E.B. Du Bois6h 22m$1 · $0.00
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge5h 59m$2 · $0.00
Valley of the BirdtailAndrew Stobo Sniderman, Douglas Sanderson10h 1m$29 · $0.00
Lies My Therapist Told MeGreg E. Gifford9h 3m$29 · $0.00
Disturbed in Their NestsAlephonsion Deng, Judy A. Bernstein11h 22m5 (1)$23 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass44h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 10m$2 · $0.00
I've Been to the MountaintopMartin Luther King48m5 (1)$11 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m$20
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m$33 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
EnduranceAlfred Lansing6h 1m$20
LES MISERABLES (Illustrated Edition)Victor Hugo66h 17m$1 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m$28 · $0.00
Frederick Douglass: All 3 Memoirs in One VolumeFrederick Douglass42h 36m$1 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m$26 · $0.00
Ulysses S. Grant: Life of the Fearless General & Commander-in-Chief (Complete Edition - Volumes 1&2)Ulysses S. Grant30h 34m$2 · $0.00
Left for DeadEbony Canion5h 34m$17
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m$29 · $0.00
A Bridge Not Too FarDeepak Ohri4h 55m$15
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m5 (1)$24 · $0.00
A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller (The Complete Four-Volume Edition)George Müller43h 37m$2 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m5 (2)$29 · $0.00
Scandal Between the Sheets & Stranded with the Tempting StrangerBrenda Jackson9h 22m$24 · $0.00
The complete novelsJane Austen73h 18m$3.50 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m5 (1)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine PatriotAustin Craig6h 29m$1 · $0.00
The Trump Survival GuideGene Stone4h 31m$20 · $0.00
A lecture by Victoria Claflin WoodhullVictoria C. Woodhull1h 55m$2 · $0.00
Read Woke CollectionElliott Smith, Cicely Lewis3h 49m$15
Athenian ConstitutionAristotle2h 43m$4 · $0.00
Island QueenVanessa Riley21h 17m$46 · $0.00
Life Among the Piutes: The First Autobiography of a Native American WomanSarah Winnemucca Hopkins9h$2 · $0.00
VOTES FOR WOMEN: Complete History of the Women's Suffrage Movement in U.S. (Including Biographies & Memoirs of Most Influential Suffragettes)Jane Addams, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida Husted Harper, Anna Howard Shaw, Matilda Gage, Susan B. Anthony, Harriot Stanton Blatch, Alice Stone Blackwell393h 12m$2 · $0.00
The Intelligent Woman's Guide To Socialism And CapitalismBernard Shaw25h 8m$2.40
By the Light of Burning DreamsDavid Talbot, Margaret Talbot13h 57m$33 · $0.00
Children of the Stone CityBeverley Naidoo5h 28m$24 · $0.00
A Woman's Philosophy of Woman; or, Woman affranchisedMadame d' Héricourt10h 24m$1 · $0.00
The Republicansthe Speech Resource Company10h 9m$20
The Negro WorkersEugene V. Debs1h 4m$2.40
The Journal of Negro History: 1919Various20h 26m$1 · $0.00
The Signers of the Declaration of Independence: BiographiesL. Carroll Judson20h 30m$2 · $0.00
Read & RiotNadya Tolokonnikova6h 42m$24 · $0.00
The Evolution of Socialism in the United Statesthe Speech Resource Company8h 32m$20
America’s First Freedom RiderJerry Mikorenda6h 22m$17
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and IRaja Shehadeh5h 9m$15 · $0.00