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laila4343's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know what to think about this book. It is a decidedly nontraditional memoir. Jefferson uses different techniques (histories, lists, third person) to keep herself (and us) at a remove from the emotion of her experience as an upper middle class black girl growing up in the 1950s and 60s in Chicago. She shares observations and incidents that are certainly compelling and emotionally devastating. I have a feeling that this is going to be a book that I appreciate more the longer I think about it. But at times, unfortunately, reading it felt like a chore.
More thoughts to come at http://bigreadinglife.wordpress.com.
More thoughts to come at http://bigreadinglife.wordpress.com.
elisahvdb's review against another edition
Could not follow this at all on audio. Might try again in print.
rhiannon_ling_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
kevin_shepherd's review against another edition
4.0
“I wonder that not every colored person isn't a misanthrope, surely we have everything to make us hate mankind.” ~Charlotte Forten Grimke
A few short years ago I realized that everything I had ever read about race in America had been written by a white person. Even the films I knew and loved, excluding those by Spike Lee, had either been “caucasianally” written (see: To Kill a Mockingbird) or “caucasianally” edited (see: The Blind Side) to deemphasize the horrific sociology of discrimination and emphasize the stereotypical white “hero” that courageously steps in to save the day. It was obvious that I needed to retool my reading list.
My path to Margo Jefferson’s Negroland is a line that starts with Dr. Cornel West and runs directly through Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and Michelle Alexander. Along the way I went old-school with Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois, and new-wave with Elizabeth Hinton and Lawrence T. Brown. I even juxtaposed the Go-With-The-Flow philosophy of Booker T. Washington with the Fight-The-Power anarchisms of Malcolm X. So here I sit, roughly twenty five books into my quest to better understand the essence of racism and bigotry in America, and the only thing I can say with absolute certainty is that I still don’t know shit.
“You've got to be taught to be afraid,
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade”
~Rodgers & Hammerstein, South Pacific
Negroland is a biographical accounting of life in America (circa 1947 - 2015) from an upperclass black perspective. It is an atypical recollection of events, both historical and personal, that is as enlightening as it is entertaining.
“Sometimes I almost forget I'm a Negro.”
In order for (white labeled) “privileged blacks” to maintain their precarious social standing in a society that considered them unequivocally inferior, they had to integrate, acquiesce and assimilate. Jefferson is not shy about her complicity in this endeavor. It was, after all, a survival mechanism that worked. Throughout U.S. history there are a plethora of examples of black citizens that prospered because they knew when to kowtow (see: Booker T. Washington, Justice Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, etc.).
“Negro privilege had to be circumspect: impeccable but not arrogant; confident yet obliging; dignified, not intrusive.”
Here’s an epiphany we should all have: social hierarchies are imaginary entities. They are constructs of the mind that only exist because we’ve bought-in to the con. When Margo Jefferson talks about struggling to maintain societal equivalency with her white contemporaries she openly acknowledges and confronts the underbelly of that beast: that persons of color who did not bother to climb the ladder, or who impeded her family’s progress up the ladder, were looked upon as inferior.
“You have became the very thing you swore to destroy.” ~Obi-Wan Kenobi
I see a lot of parallels between Margo Jefferson and my beloved Nella Larsen. They both write about racism from a practical place rather than an idealistic place. In that sense, Larsen is to Jefferson what Jean Toomer is to Langston Hughes; the latter is just a progression of the former, and both are better for it.
A few short years ago I realized that everything I had ever read about race in America had been written by a white person. Even the films I knew and loved, excluding those by Spike Lee, had either been “caucasianally” written (see: To Kill a Mockingbird) or “caucasianally” edited (see: The Blind Side) to deemphasize the horrific sociology of discrimination and emphasize the stereotypical white “hero” that courageously steps in to save the day. It was obvious that I needed to retool my reading list.
My path to Margo Jefferson’s Negroland is a line that starts with Dr. Cornel West and runs directly through Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and Michelle Alexander. Along the way I went old-school with Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. DuBois, and new-wave with Elizabeth Hinton and Lawrence T. Brown. I even juxtaposed the Go-With-The-Flow philosophy of Booker T. Washington with the Fight-The-Power anarchisms of Malcolm X. So here I sit, roughly twenty five books into my quest to better understand the essence of racism and bigotry in America, and the only thing I can say with absolute certainty is that I still don’t know shit.
“You've got to be taught to be afraid,
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade”
~Rodgers & Hammerstein, South Pacific
Negroland is a biographical accounting of life in America (circa 1947 - 2015) from an upperclass black perspective. It is an atypical recollection of events, both historical and personal, that is as enlightening as it is entertaining.
“Sometimes I almost forget I'm a Negro.”
In order for (white labeled) “privileged blacks” to maintain their precarious social standing in a society that considered them unequivocally inferior, they had to integrate, acquiesce and assimilate. Jefferson is not shy about her complicity in this endeavor. It was, after all, a survival mechanism that worked. Throughout U.S. history there are a plethora of examples of black citizens that prospered because they knew when to kowtow (see: Booker T. Washington, Justice Clarence Thomas, Herman Cain, etc.).
“Negro privilege had to be circumspect: impeccable but not arrogant; confident yet obliging; dignified, not intrusive.”
Here’s an epiphany we should all have: social hierarchies are imaginary entities. They are constructs of the mind that only exist because we’ve bought-in to the con. When Margo Jefferson talks about struggling to maintain societal equivalency with her white contemporaries she openly acknowledges and confronts the underbelly of that beast: that persons of color who did not bother to climb the ladder, or who impeded her family’s progress up the ladder, were looked upon as inferior.
“You have became the very thing you swore to destroy.” ~Obi-Wan Kenobi
I see a lot of parallels between Margo Jefferson and my beloved Nella Larsen. They both write about racism from a practical place rather than an idealistic place. In that sense, Larsen is to Jefferson what Jean Toomer is to Langston Hughes; the latter is just a progression of the former, and both are better for it.
biggareader's review against another edition
3.0
Partly memoir, partly essays on class, race and culture. It gives a good starting point and grounding for those interested in this historical context.
michellekirkbride's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0