Brian Goldstein, author of The Roots of Urban Renaissance: Gentrification and the Struggle over Harlem:
Despite his extraordinarily significant role in American urban history, Philip Payton’s story has remained obscure and elusive. McGruder weaves together an engaging biography of a complex figure whose ups and downs in Harlem reveal the halting progress and profound tradeoffs that attended efforts to find decent housing for Black Americans.

Laurence Pearl, former attorney at the Department of Housing and Urban Development:
How do you promote racial equity but still maximize profits? That was the balance that Philip Payton had to strike as a Black real estate broker in Harlem in the early 1900s. His Afro-American Realty Company said “Race prejudice is a luxury.” But this fascinating biography shows what a formidable obstacle it was.

Shannon King, author of Whose Harlem Is This, Anyway? Community Politics and Grassroots Activism during the New Negro Era:
This meticulously researched must-read biography of Harlem’s pioneering Black businessman Philip Payton masterfully shows the promises and pitfalls of Black capitalism on the eve of the New Negro Renaissance.

Khalil Gibran Muhammad, author of The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America:
Kevin McGruder renders a poignant and revealing portrait of one of Black America’s pioneering entrepreneurs, the Harlem real estate impresario Philip Payton. This timely and important biography brings to life the limits of trying to achieve racial justice by playing by the capitalist rules of a segregated economy.