Rooming in the Master’s House: Power and Privilege in the Rise of Black Conservatism

Rooming in the Master’s House is a strikingly original portrait of the black conservative movement by two of the most celebrated African American scholars. Asante and Hall show that today’s black conservative movement can be traced to the original class and social distinctions created during slavery when certain Africans were given positions in the master’s house and consequently felt that they were better than the Africans who worked in the fields. Using historical and social sources, the authors weave a narrative explaining how the house Negro syndrome continues in current discourses on the black community and in American Politics.