Blacks & Whites' first edition was published in 1970. It has been lost to time. Rarely has an original copy been offered for auction. Robert Sommer, a renowned professor at UC Davis, was the original inventor of environmental psychology. He studied how the environment affects human behavior and collaborated with Psychology Today to create the game. It was used as an educational tool to teach children about privilege. Feiman and Markos said that they hoped to continue this tradition.
In the 1970s, I was a father to three children and played board games together. Monopoly was the most popular, according to Sommer. Sommer died in February 2021 in the revised editions foreword. This was written during the development of Monopoly. It was so unrealistic! Monopoly is a game where everyone starts with the same amount money. This doesn't make sense in the real world.
I changed the rules to include disadvantaged players. Just like many areas of the county were not allowed to be inhabited by Black residents, so the Black players of our board would not be able buy property anywhere on the board. They started with less money and would be subject to penalties that were not applicable to white players.
Robert Sommer was born in California in the sixties. He had begun working on the game in response to a wave of racial riots in the United States that began in 1965, with the Watts Rebellion, Watts, Los Angeles. Protests were triggered when a 21-year old African American man was pulled over for drunk driving and other bystanders on the spot were arrested.
It is sad to say that things have not changed much from 50 years ago. Barbara Sommer, Robert Sommer's wife, said that he was still in love with Barbara Sommer while he worked on the original game. Although society is vastly different, many of the same problems faced by minorities in the 1960s are still present today, she stated. They could keep the basic structure intact and needed only to change the characters and property. Sommer said that things are certainly better. What is most surprising to me is the relevance of the game.
50 years later, Feiman and Markos reached out to Robert Sommer shortly after George Floyd's murder. This sparked massive protests against police brutality. He gave the go-ahead to revamp the game. He wrote in the foreword that it was a wonderful idea to revive Blacks & Whites. He wrote that while much had changed in the 70s, race relations still haven't improved.
We had plenty of time and the game was fun. Feiman says that George Floyd was assassinated, and we knew we had to do something about it. It couldn't have come at a better time.
In the 50th anniversary edition, the premise of Monopolyto include race in Monopoly to make the game more realistically remains the same. The game's design has been updated to reflect 21st-century society. Black players can also land on Peaceful Protest, where whites must pay 20 grand to The Reparations Pool. Black players are busted and taken to The Police Station. You can go directly to jail. A card that reads: See a Psychoanalyst about fantasies you have that you are a Black Pantherpays a $30,000.
