Prometheus 6

“When you grow up living in a white corporate world, there’s always a part of you that thinks, ‘Gee, if I sold out,’ or ‘How can I do this and also stay true to myself and true to my own identity,’ ” said Jeh Johnson, another top fund-raiser and New York lawyer who today serves as the informal chairman of the group of black law partners that Mr. Davis first joined three decades ago. “Here we have a guy who’s running for president and managed to do it in the political world and managed to do it so well.”...

Nevertheless, stories of slights, or a nagging sense of “otherness,” are prevalent even among this accomplished group....

Indeed, for all of the signs of progress, there remain feelings of frustration about what has not been accomplished. 

Top Black Donors See Obama’s Rise as Their Own
By MICHAEL LUO

DENVER — When Gordon Davis, a top fund-raiser for Senator Barack Obama, made partner at his white-shoe law firm in 1983, it was a vastly different world for aspiring black professionals like him.

At the time, there were just five black partners at major law firms in New York, Mr. Davis recalled. The group had a tradition of taking each new partner out to an intimate congratulatory lunch. Today, there are more than 200 who take part in the ritual at the Harvard Club.

The advancements of professionals like Mr. Davis over just a few decades have enabled a cadre of black elites to emerge as a significant force in the most prolific fund-raising operation in presidential history.