[Watts] is at her best when she gives a frank accounting of the barriers the Black Cabinet encountered ... the value of this thoughtful book becomes clear. For far too long we’ve lived with the comfort the movement’s sacred story provides, that the suffering of a single generation of activists — great as it was — redeemed the soul of America. Now it’s time to face the fact that whatever redemption this nation can claim came through a long, hard, often dispiriting struggle littered with defeats like those the Black Cabinet experienced, inflicted by a racial system of overwhelming and enduring power. That’s not a comforting story to tell. But it is a necessary one.
Every once in a long while, a book comes along that pulls back the curtain on an unheralded time in America’s civil rights past and leaves one inspired and eager to learn more. The Black Cabinet is an invaluable historical contribution to an overlooked era of American history that had far-reaching impacts for African American civil rights movements still to be born ... Watts brings to life these fascinating and inspiring lives ... Watts’s elegant and understated writing never leads the reader by the nose, but rather lets these vanguard civil rights leaders speak for themselves. The Black Cabinet is essential reading, now more than ever, to remind Americans of how long and hard the road to achieving civil rights was and still often is for African Americans. The courage, dignity, and fortitude of the men and women of the Black Cabinet serve as a continuing inspiration for all of us.
Meticulously researched and elegantly written, The Black Cabinet is sprawling and epic, and Watts deftly re-creates whole scenes from archival material. With six main Cabinet characters, several subplots, infighting and at least three presidencies involved, however, it’s a lot to take in ... The book clearly revolves around the larger-than-life Bethune, offering an object lesson on race and political expediency[.]
... meticulously researched and beautifully written ... This absorbing look at a pivotal point in civil rights activity before the 1950s and ’60s is well done and should be of interest to us all.
Unfortunately, Watts’ repeated use of the term 'Black Cabinet' tends to exaggerate the status of its members and subordinate the individual stories of those it is meant to encompass. Until Bethune 'took command,' in Watts’ words, the group accomplished little ... These mistakes are seemingly minor, but they add up and, for a knowledgeable reader, distract and detract from the book’s larger value ... In addition, the author does not provide a sense of place about where so many pivotal events in the book occurred. Though she cites many primary and secondary sources, one wonders whether, during the course of her research, she ever stepped foot in the nation’s capital. The writing lacks local color, scenes, and details that would have enlivened the narrative ... Throughout, names drop in and out, often with little character development. The author gets into the weeds to describe policy disputes, sometimes necessary but a slog for the reader. Most troubling of all, the book seems to lack the passion the subject would seem to demand — until the last chapter, when the author writes of those she collectively calls the Black Cabinet ... Sadly, The Black Cabinet fails to deliver on the promise of its title. That is unfortunate, because Watts has taken on an important but neglected chapter of American history — and, for this, she deserves credit.
... thouroughly researched ... A dramatic piece of nonfiction that recovers the history of a generation of leaders that helped create the environment for the civil rights battles in decades that followed Roosevelt’s death.
... a unique and enlightening portrait ... Lesser-known civil servants such as Lucia Mae Pitts, 'the first African American woman to serve as a secretary to a white federal administrator in Washington, D.C.,' receive overdue attention, as does the influence of the black press on Roosevelt’s staffing decisions. Watts finds drama in committee meetings and unemployment surveys, and expertly tracks her subjects across the maze of federal bureaucracy. The result is a groundbreaking reappraisal of an unheralded chapter in the battle for civil rights.
Drawing on government documents, newspapers, and an extensive number of archives, historian Watts vividly recounts an important chapter in black American history: the place of black advisers in Roosevelt’s administration ... A thoroughly researched history of important black activists.
