A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced release copy in exchange for my honest review.

I found the premise of the book to be very interesting and the author did a good job of providing the supporting evidence. Unfortunately, the introduction is sooo long and so fact based, that it is a chore to slog through it. The book itself has more of a narrational qyality but after the introduction, you have to push yourself to read it.

Thank you to Netgalley & the publisher for giving me an ARC!

It's weird to explain nonfiction, because this is one of those genres of books that the synopsis tells you basically everything you need to know about the book and exactly what to expect.

I felt like the book delivered exactly what was promised. And I liked that the main thing that was discussed in this book was the re-framing of history as Black citizens trying to live and white people getting angry at them for being successful. It was a very interesting take on history, and I feel like that is the way we need to be studying it from now on. It made a lot of sense once you saw it in action through the texts.

The reason it is at a 4 and not a 5, just has to do with my own experience with the text as I hadn't read the literature that was mentioned and therefore it ended up feeling a bit too dry. However, that might totally be different for someone that has read the texts that this book analyzes!

Koritha Mitchell is a wonderful writer! I cannot think of a more important book to read now, to learn from now, and to recommend to others now. Thank you to NetGalley and University of Illinois Press for a copy of this book for an honest review.

From Slave Cabins to the White House is an examination of African American history and culture and how it has been shaped. I feel that it is an important topic and one that I want to learn more about.
The introduction is very long and I found it difficult to understand. There were a few terms I needed to look up, and it was much more intellectual than I am used to.
Once I made it to the actual chapters I had a slightly easier time with the text. I should explain that I received an advance copy in exchange for my honest review. I only finished the second chapter before the arc expired, in part due to my schedule and in part due to my difficulty reading the introduction. My observation was that the premise of the book- that black men and women have always pursued success and achievement despite knowing that doing so always has and still does incur white violence and anger- is repeated so often it is practically every other sentence. It did get annoying, as I found the rest of the content interesting, but I couldn't get past the excessive repetition.
The author does make a convincing argument, and it is an idea I had not heard expressed before. Each chapter focuses on a different time period by examining cultural works such as plays, autobiographical texts and works of fiction, as well as the public personal of Michelle Obama.
I would still suggest it is worth a read, but this is my impression.
*Once this is published, I intend to finish reading it.*

I think Koritha Mitchell pulled off a pretty incredible feat here: she presented relatively cerebral, intellectual work in a digestible, narrative format that makes her point clear, her analysis easy to follow, and the stories of the texts she reviews come to life. Mitchell really embarks on a journey of theoretical analysis in order to aggregate and ultimately synthesize a body of primary texts that spans centuries. She manages to bring all these separate, mostly unrelated texts together to form a cohesive narrative while she posits that’s Black womxn have been dismissed and marginalized, even as they fulfill the historical criteria of “success” in American culture. Womxn who have dedicated their lives to the home - raising children and other tireless obligations - are shunned from mainstream American society and demoralized because of their work, all while white womxn were allowed entry into the same society for dutifully fulfilling their expected gender roles.

Mitchell talks about the Black womxn we look up to, like Michelle Obama, and explores how white commentators devalue and belittle the achievements and validity of Black womxn by stereotyping and name-calling them. One of the other things Mitchell discusses is the ways in which Black Americans have essentially formed “citizenship” to their own created communities, since white policy makers, pundits, and the general public have done everything they can to prevent Black folx from achieving “success,” no matter how traditionally “successful” they are. This is a way of maintaining oppression and attempts to marginalize this diverse community.

I’m used to academic texts but have spent most of the last decade exploring mostly fiction and some non-fiction, but Mitchell’s work feels really accessible and readable to me. Not only does she provide history and context, she also fully synthesizes it and helps us see how we got where we are and what we need to do to change it. No matter how much thinking I’ve done on the subject of equity and justice, I’ve never thought of a lot of the topics discussed within “From Slave Cabins to the White House” in such a clearly linked way. I think Mitchell has written a work that is invaluable and really hasn’t been done before, which is quite an achievement given how many remarkable works have been published on adjacent topics. I’d highly recommend this text to anyone who’s hoping to learn some about history via historical texts, analyze the images and messages we receive from the media, and how the ladders of opportunity continue to be systemically weakened for Black Americans, and particularly Black womxn.

Thank you very much to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this text. This review is wholly unbiased.

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Abdel Rahman Amin
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From Slave Cabins to the White House by Koritha Mitchell
From Slave Cabins to the White House: Homemade...
by Koritha Mitchell (Goodreads Author)
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From Slave Cabins to the White House by Koritha Mitchell is an intensely-written and often dogmatic book which attempts to highlight and define the many ways African American women have been disrespected as homemakers, and how that translates into an overarching disrespect for all African Americans who seek success - especially domestic success - both as they define it and as the majority culture defines it. The author uses a wide variety of cultural productions (books, plays, etc) to support this belief, ranging from Harriet Jacob's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) to Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959) to Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987), and finally the public persona of former First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Seeing these texts through the filter of the author's premise was interesting, and definitely made me want to read the original documents to form my own opinion - I have a healthy suspicion when it comes to cherry-picking.

That said, the author does a great job of supporting her premise, and does it convincingly. She weaves a compelling narrative, and, with the exception of the wandering and poorly-scoped introduction, the writing is engaging and challenging.

In whole, From Slave Cabins to the White House provides a much-needed historical look at the topic of domestic success and African American women, and how that success has been denied, denigrated, withheld and ultimately claimed.

A very interesting, educational and informative read. I enjoy learning new things and this was a very good non-fic.


Thank you Netgalley for providing an arc of this book for an honest review.

From Slave Cabins to the White House by Koritha Mitchell is an intensely-written and often dogmatic book which attempts to highlight and define the many ways African American women have been disrespected as homemakers, and how that translates into an overarching disrespect for all African Americans who seek success - especially domestic success - both as they define it and as the majority culture defines it. The author uses a wide variety of cultural productions (books, plays, etc) to support this belief, ranging from Harriet Jacob's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) to Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (1959) to Toni Morrison's Beloved (1987), and finally the public persona of former First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Seeing these texts through the filter of the author's premise was interesting, and definitely made me want to read the original documents to form my own opinion - I have a healthy suspicion when it comes to cherry-picking.

That said, the author does a great job of supporting her premise, and does it convincingly. She weaves a compelling narrative, and, with the exception of the wandering and poorly-scoped introduction, the writing is engaging and challenging.

In whole, From Slave Cabins to the White House provides a much-needed historical look at the topic of domestic success and African American women, and how that success has been denied, denigrated, withheld and ultimately claimed.

This review is based on an advance copy read.