It Was All a Dream

In the last few decades, any hope of economic progress for black Americans has been slowly and steadily undermined. This quiet crisis was only exacerbated by the recession, which cut black households' wealth by over 30 percent. Black millennials watched their parents try to play by the rules, buying homes and aspiring to the trappings of middle-class life, only to sink deeper and deeper into debt. Now, in the post-Obama era, young black Americans face a critical turning point, as they try to realize dreams too long deferred.

In It Was All a Dream, Reniqua Allen tells the stories--too often overlooked--of black millennials struggling, innovating, and flourishing. We meet a former college athlete burdened with mounting debt; a fashion entrepreneur who, like so many of her generation, has left New York for southern cities like Atlanta; a sex worker in Chicago; and an ambitious Republican college student who wrestles with being a black conservative on campus. Allen interweaves reflections on defining moments, from Hurricane Katrina to the murder of Michael Brown to the election of Donald Trump. Together, the lives and reflections in these pages offer a portrait of a generation on the brink, tracing their efforts to build their own futures and write their own history.

“"The Great Recession crippled an entire generation, and black millennials were among the hardest hit. Allen interviewed dozens of her peers for an honest and occasionally heartbreaking look at young black twenty- and thirtysomethings trying to succeed in a nation that has often inhibited them from achieving their dreams."-- BuzzFeed”

"All comfortable notions about the American Dream are shoved aside as Reniqua Allen lays out the harsh and often disturbing challenges facing today's young African-Americans. A powerful, compelling, and important book."--Bob Herbert, author, filmmaker, and former op-edcolumnist for the New York Times
"At a time when every aspect of the millennial experience has been dissected ad nauseam, It Was All a Dream offers a fresh perspective. It's an honest account-buoyed by statistics-of the struggles of black young adults and the disparate racial outcomes...
In the aftermath of the first black presidency, It Was All a Dream is a vital book, a necessary reminder that this post-racial generation is anything but. It's a reality that America will have to grapple with or risk making the American Dream a broken promise for the black youth of Generation Z, as well."--The Washington Post
"In her revelatory new book, It Was All A Dream, Reniqua Allen amplifies voices that America needs desperately to hear. She explores the lives of Black millennials who strive for success - or sometimes basic survival - with insight, empathy and candor. Pinned between the unfinished business of the civil rights movement and the economic, political and racial rifts of the post-Obama era, their stories are both heartbreaking and hopeful, the pent-up demand of a new generation demanding what has always been its right: liberation."--Jessica Bruder, author of Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
"Reniqua Allen strikes a fine balance between the personal histories of ambitious Black millennials and the systems in place that threaten their mobility. With acute detail to their location, background, and motive, Allen's sharp journalistic skills are center stage, crafting reportage, cultural commentary, and personal anecdotes into a thought-provoking book that will add to our discussions about race, capitalism, education, and self-actualization."--Morgan Jerkins, author of This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America
"Reniqua Allen's must-read book takes us beyond the statistics and stereotypes, telling the stories of young Black Americans who are creating, working, fighting, loving, and surviving. Allen's vital and empathetic reportage shares their voices-and we would be wise to listen."--Heather McGhee, Former President and DistinguishedSenior Fellow, Demos
"The Great Recession crippled an entire generation, and black millennials were among the hardest hit. Allen interviewed dozens of her peers for an honest and occasionally heartbreaking look at young black twenty- and thirtysomethings trying to succeed in a nation that has often inhibited them from achieving their dreams."--BuzzFeed

Reniqua Allen, a former fellow at New America and a former Emerging Voices Fellow at Demos, is completing her PhD in American Studies at Rutgers University. She has served as a producer for WNYC's United States of Anxiety, an associate producer for Moyers & Company, and a field producer for the PBS/POV documentary Overcoming: The Struggle for a Black Middle Class, on which she collaborated with Bob Herbert. She has been a commentator on MSNBC, NPR, and WBUR, and has written for the New York Times, Washington Post,Guardian, Quartz, San Francisco Chronicle, Al-Jazeera America, Atlantic, and more.

In the last few decades, any hope of economic progress for black Americans has been slowly and steadily undermined. This quiet crisis was only exacerbated by the recession, which cut black households' wealth by over 30 percent. Black millennials watched their parents try to play by the rules, buying homes and aspiring to the trappings of middle-class life, only to sink deeper and deeper into debt. Now, in the post-Obama era, young black Americans face a critical turning point, as they try to realize dreams too long deferred.In It Was All a Dream , Reniqua Allen tells the stories--too often overlooked--of black millennials struggling, innovating, and flourishing. We meet a former college athlete burdened with mounting debt; a fashion entrepreneur who, like so many of her generation, has left New York for southern cities like Atlanta; a sex worker in Chicago; and an ambitious Republican college student who wrestles with being a black conservative on campus. Allen interweaves reflections on defining moments, from Hurricane Katrina to the murder of Michael Brown to the election of Donald Trump. Together, the lives and reflections in these pages offer a portrait of a generation on the brink, tracing their efforts to build their own futures and write their own history.

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