Books like The ordeal of integration by Orlando Patterson

Building on extensive research into slavery, freedom, and ethnic inequality, Patterson challenges oversimplified narratives that treat African Americans as a single crisis‑ridden group. He critiques mainstream policy makers, media, and academics for homogenizing the 33 million people of African ancestry and urges a reassessment of entrenched racial assumptions. Patterson offers practical solutions, including housing vouchers and immigration controls, aimed at lifting the bottom quarter of the African‑American population. He stresses the importance of school desegregation, supports intermarriage as a tool for full integration, and calls for reform within religious institutions that perpetuate segregation. Despite critiques of affirmative action, he recommends its continuation for another fifteen years, eventually transitioning to class‑based measures.

First publish date: November 1997