Negroland: A Memoir Explained

Negroland: A Memoir
Author:	Margo Jefferson
Published:	2015
Language:	English
Country:	United States
Genre:	Memoir
Media Type:	Print
Pages:	248
Publisher:	Pantheon Books

Negroland: A Memoir is a 2015 book by Margo Jefferson.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]} It is a memoir of growing up in 1950s and 1960s America within a small, privileged segment of black American society known as the black bourgeoisie, or African-American upper class.

Reception

Negroland: A Memoir was published to acclaim in 2015. It was described by Dwight Garner in The New York Times as a "powerful and complicated memoir",^[6] and by Margaret Busby in The Sunday Times as "utterly compelling",^[7] while Anita Sethi wrote in The Observer: "Jefferson fascinatingly explores how her personal experience intersected with politics, from the civil rights movement to feminism, as well as history before her birth."^[8] Tracy K. Smith wrote in The New York Times: "The visible narrative apparatus of 'Negroland' highlights its author's extreme vulnerability in the face of her material. It also makes apparent the all-too-often invisible fallout of our nation's ongoing obsession with race and class: Namely, that living a life as an exemplar of black excellence — and living with the survivor's guilt that often accompanies such excellence — can have a psychic effect nearly as deadening and dehumanizing as that of racial injustice itself."^[9]

In 2016, Negroland was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction^{[10] [11]} and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the Autobiography category.

Awards and honors

• 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award (Autobiography), winner.^[12]
• June 2016, chosen as a Book of the Week by BBC Radio 4.
• 2016 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize.^[13]

See also

• E. Franklin Frazier's sociological Black Bourgeoisie (first edition in English in 1957 translated from the 1955 French original)
• Lawrence Otis Graham's Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class (2000)

Notes and References

1. Web site: Smith. Tracy K.. Margo Jefferson's 'Negroland: A Memoir'. The New York Times. 2015-09-15. 2015-11-08.
2. Web site: Review: 'Negroland,' by Margo Jefferson, on Growing Up Black and Privileged. The New York Times. 2015-11-08. 2015-09-10. Dwight. Garner.
3. Web site: Privilege And Pressure: A Memoir Of Growing Up Black And Elite In 'Negroland'. NPR. 2015-11-08. 2015-09-08.
4. Web site: Coming of Age in Negroland. PopMatters. 2015-11-08. 2015-10-19. Vince. Carducci.
5. Web site: Margo Jefferson reveals life inside the black elite in 'Negroland'. Carroll, Rebecca. September 9, 2015. Los Angeles Times.
6. News: Dwight . Garner . September 10, 2015. Review: 'Negroland,' by Margo Jefferson, on Growing Up Black and Privileged. The New York Times.
7. News: Margaret. Busby. June 19, 2016. Books: Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson. The Sunday Times.
8. News: Anita . Sethi . January 22, 2017. Negroland by Margo Jefferson review – a brilliant memoir about race in America. The Observer.
9. Web site: Margo Jefferson's 'Negroland: A Memoir'. The New York Times. September 20, 2015.
10. Web site: Baillie Gifford Non-Fiction Prize nominees announced. BBC News. October 17, 2016.
11. Web site: First-hand reporting dominates Baillie Gifford shortlist. Maev . Kennedy. Maev Kennedy. The Guardian. October 17, 2016.
12. Web site: 'The Sellout' Wins National Book Critics Circle's Fiction Award . The New York Times . Alexandra. Alter . March 17, 2016 . March 18, 2016.
13. Web site: Margo Jefferson memoir 'Negroland' a resonant Heartland Prize winner. Chicago Tribune. Elizabeht. Taylor. November 2, 2016. November 14, 2020.