The Children of Ham

by Claude Brown

"Salt-Noody, 15, doesn't know how he got his name, but likes to paint it all over the city with an aerosol can. Dujo, 16, had a mother who was a heroin worshipper. She went into a nod one day and has been there ever since. Mumps, 16, is a flashy dresser and the businessman of the group.

When he finishes school he's going to open a chain of haberdasheries. Jill, 17, ex-prostitute, ex-junkie, avid Bible reader, graduate of both reform school and prison, wants to be a biologist and is mother to them all." -back cover

267 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 1977

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book long ago when I was scanning my mom's library. Its dated in that Harlem is nothing like what is described here, but it is a very good historical account of the pressures and lives of children who had to survive in the urban jungle of Harlem created by systemic racism and its outgrowth of alienation and poverty. Excellent read.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the end of the book, Brown adds this note: "There is an epilogue to this book, but only time can write it."

"The Children of Ham" reads like more like a very long introduction to a novel with 13 profiles of the protagonists. Therefore, the main criticism for this book is that it is not actually a novel because the plot doesn't thicken. Moreover, the book could be read as a collection of 13 short stories based on different characters living together.

Brown envisions the lives of several youth living together in a crime infested, drug ridden, poverty stricken Harlem patrolled by racist police officers. The story captures 13 very smart, very ambitious characters getting by and supporting each other with their unique talents while constantly being tested by the shark infested streets of Harlem.

You'll find yourself rooting for them and hope that they prosper. You will want more. But with nearly no plot, you may realize very soon the lack of significance this book offers.

[Phillip Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was published in 1973 but many of the issues of police brutality, drug addiction, and inner city poverty are still around. The author chose the name children of Ham because in a racist religious doctrine black people descend from a son of the biblical Noah who condemned himself and posterity to servitude for mocking his father and worshipping idols. It seems these young people are doomed to a hard life for being African American because they are aware Whitey is keeping them down. The teenagers in this book all dream of getting out of Harlem but it seems the odds are against them due to lack of opportunity to do something else than menial jobs or engaging in criminal activity. Heroin is another evil in the book since it broke up families and created junkies who would do anything to feed their habit. If you read Beth Macy's Dopesick: you can get an idea of how it was.

[Makiel Talley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a teen in the eighties; and though I don’t quite remember each of the characters’ stories today (Jan 2022), I remember that their stories spoke to me. In fact, it is one of the few books I can recall the title and author after all of these years and immediately feel the impact that those characters’ lives impressed upon my own. Perhaps it was because I could relate to some of their struggles or knew someone who could; but it clearly was written with a paintbrush. I can almost see the neighborhood even now. It was a masterpiece for a coming of age person of color in that time, under certain circumstances. I think I may read it again.

[KamariLyrikal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book took me quite a while to read because I just couldn't get into some of the stories. It tells the story of 13 children growing up in Harlem and how they were connected. I originally chose this book because I wanted to know what it was like growing up in Harlem during these times. Some of the language was very outdated but I enjoyed the history of it all. I also like the fact that this it is based on True events/people/experiences. I probably wouldn't read it again but I'm happy I read it.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-intentioned but ultimately futile and failed attempt to catch up with the Black generation depicted in Claude Brown's 1965 memoir, MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND. Brown chose to write over a dozen short stories in trying to discover how others endured in the ghetto of Harlem. Especially welcome is his inclusion of women in this collective cycle of despair. All these stories ring true, and yet none has the blazing honesty of his autobiography. Brown might have been better off recording these stories in a non-fiction oral history of Harlem. THE CHILDREN OF HAM is a missed opportunity in portraying multiple Black lives.