The focus of this paper is on the Piedmont and Tidewater regions of the American South. Traditional social patterns tend to be used as models as long as they serve the community's purposes. In the community of slave and planter in ante-bellum Tidewater Southern U.S.A., a group of privileged blacks known generally as house servants came to function as links between the planters and the majority of slaves. Having their status and privilege defined only by white whim and favor, and behaving properly lest their demeanor infuriate the planter, these blacks assimilated and internalized white attitudes, behavior, and beliefs. Under post-emancipation Jim Crow, there are two racially segregated communities with the white group dominant both socially and economically. However, given the large numbers of potentially powerful and influential blacks, and the need for black services in maintaining the economic enterprises of the system, whites had to establish lines of communication with the black community. A group of individual black brokers has mediated between the effectively segregated racial groups. These black brokers may be understood as the product of ante-bellum social structure. Their position also is based on status rather than contract. (Author/JM)