Negroland : a memoir / Margo Jefferson.
"At once incendiary and icy, mischievous, and provocative, celebratory and elegiac, a deeply felt meditation on race, sex, and American culture through the prism of the author's rarefied upbringing and education among a black elite concerned to distance itself from whites and the black generality, while tirelessly measuring itself against both. Born in 1947 in upper-crust black Chicago--her father was for years head of pediatrics at Provident, at the time the nation's oldest black hospital; her mother was a socialite--Margo Jefferson has spent most of her life among (call them what you will) the colored aristocracy, the colored elite, the blue-vein society. Since the nineteenth century they have stood apart, these inhabitants of Negroland, "a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty." Reckoning with the strictures and demands of Negroland at crucial historical moments--the civil rights movement, the dawn of feminism, the fallacy of post-racial America--Jefferson brilliantly charts the twists and turns of a life informed by psychological and moral contradictions. Aware as it is of heart-wrenching despair and depression, this book is a triumphant paean to the grace of perseverance. (With 8 pages of black-and-white illustrations.)"-- Provided by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780307378453 (hardback)
- ISBN: 0307378454 (hardback)
- Physical Description: 248 pages ; 23 cm
- Edition: First edition.
- Publisher: New York : Pantheon Books, [2015]
Content descriptions
Bibliography, etc. Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [243]-248). |
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Available copies
- 3 of 3 copies available at Lackawanna County Library System.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 3 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
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Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Circulation Modifier | Status | Due Date | Courses |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abington Community Library | 92 JEFFERS (Text) | 50687011398792 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - | ||
Albright Memorial Library | 92 JEFFERS (Text) | 50686014891399 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - | ||
Dalton Community Library | 92 JEFFERS (Text) | 50689010389129 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
Summary:
"At once incendiary and icy, mischievous, and provocative, celebratory and elegiac, a deeply felt meditation on race, sex, and American culture through the prism of the author's rarefied upbringing and education among a black elite concerned to distance itself from whites and the black generality, while tirelessly measuring itself against both. Born in 1947 in upper-crust black Chicago--her father was for years head of pediatrics at Provident, at the time the nation's oldest black hospital; her mother was a socialite--Margo Jefferson has spent most of her life among (call them what you will) the colored aristocracy, the colored elite, the blue-vein society. Since the nineteenth century they have stood apart, these inhabitants of Negroland, "a small region of Negro America where residents were sheltered by a certain amount of privilege and plenty." Reckoning with the strictures and demands of Negroland at crucial historical moments--the civil rights movement, the dawn of feminism, the fallacy of post-racial America--Jefferson brilliantly charts the twists and turns of a life informed by psychological and moral contradictions. Aware as it is of heart-wrenching despair and depression, this book is a triumphant paean to the grace of perseverance. (With 8 pages of black-and-white illustrations.)"--