[3] She was the associate director of the African-American program at Princeton University for ten years,[5][6] and published White Money, Black Power: The Surprising History of African American Studies and the Crisis of Race in Higher Education while she was there.
"[12] In a review of Jazz by Toni Morrison, Richard Pearce of Wheaton College writes in Narrative, "In Hair Raising, an exemplary study of African American beauty discourse, Rooks traces and analyzes the major shifts in advertising tactics of the African American beauty industry from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century", before describing some of her analysis in detail over several pages.
"[15] In a review for American Periodicals, Frances Smith Foster of Emory University writes, "The most useful elements of this book for print culture scholars are that it brings attention to the existence of African American women's magazines, provides brief biographies of the lives and times of some women who edited and wrote for them, and lays a broad foundation of analysis upon which others can and should build.
The most exciting thing about this book is that Rooks' persistent sleuthing has discovered extant copies of periodicals long thought forever lost.
"[16] In an essay review of White Money/Black Power: African American Studies and the Crises of Race in Higher Education for The Journal of African American History, Alan Colón of Dillard University concludes, "The Black Studies movement, and the tradition from which it emanated, requires documentation, analysis, and interpretation that surpasses what is found in White Money/Black Power.
"[21] Publishers Weekly writes that Rooks "introduces the term segrenomics, which she defines as 'the business of profiting from high levels of racial and economic segregation.
"[22] Wendy Lecker writes in the Stamford Advocate, "Rooks illustrates how officials and 'reformers' have virtually ignored successful models for education, such as: adequate funding, integration, and community-initiated reforms.