Dear Southern Black Bourgeois

Dear Southern Black Bourgeois,

Greetings, I am writing from my Promised Land, known better as California. I have found my way and am living a life of luxury that I hoped would be foreign to anything I could have possibly achieved in the Jim Crow South. My father in law, President Clements, may have lived a lifestyle that you all thought was the essence of "making it out" by being elected to the Board of Education. In early adulthood, I thought that no achievement in the Jim Crow South could measure up to my perceived success in the Promised Land, but I only wound up dealing with insecurity when I arrived in the James Crow North.

Although I dealt with these insecurities, I still enjoyed many privileges that would otherwise be unheard of in the South. My luxurious trips to Las Vegas was one of the few privileges I enjoyed that was still met with insecurity. My first trip I was denied entry to the hotel room I imagined for myself and my guests, but from then on I would make my mark. No casino or hotel in Las Vegas would not know my name and status, I put on performances that would bring to life how I envisioned my California life as a prestigious surgeon would be. My private practice would overflow with patients that held my name in the highest of regards. When I think about it, I devoted so much time and effort to make a name for myself that would larger than that of President Clements, and in a way I did. I was loved by many patients and was a prominent figure, among colored people in California.

I don't apologize or regret leaving the South for California, as for the majority of the time it was my Promised Land. I did escape the life I resented in the South but am unsure if I really made a name for myself that I couldn't have done as a member of the Black bourgeois in the South. This may have been a contributing factor to the many insecurities I faced when thinking about my life. \

Best,

Robert "Bob" Pershing Foster, M.D.

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