Black picket fences : privilege and peril among the Black middle class /

Pattillo-McCoy's book quells any pretense that middle-class African Americans are not susceptible to the same obstacles (termed perils by the author) visited on lower-class black Americans. The introduction delineates the supposed progress blacks have made, with affirmative action taking the credit for "wiping the slate clean and balancing the scale" between blacks and whites. Pattillo-McCoy begins by describing the black middle class and the community, Groveland, a suburb of Chicago, where she conducted her ethnographical analysis. The author discusses the intergenerational economic difficulties characterizing today's Groveland versus the Groveland of the past, as well as the sordid side of Groveland. Blackness within the middle class is poignantly displayed in her treatment of growing up in Groveland, from a discussion of the use of Black English and its cohesion-building quality to a spiel on indicators of black male masculinity. Pattillo-McCoy concludes with an assessment of race, class, and place, and offers policy suggestions. An essential addition to the emerging discourse on the black middle class. All levels. R. Stewart; SUNY College at Buffalo

This book is the product of a three-year ethnographic study of Groveland, a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Sociologist Patillo-McCoy challenges the myth that a thriving black middle class has relocated to white suburban neighborhoods, abandoning the black underclass in inner-city wastelands. She demonstrates that the majority of the black middle class are living in black communities, which encompass poor black neighborhoods. As a result, a vulnerable, underemployed black middle class has to contend with inadequate public schools and high crime and poverty rates. Patillo-McCoy focuses on Groveland's multigenerational families, primarily its youth, and neighborhood networks, concluding that the future advancement of African Americans will require that the black middle class be factored into the debate on policies regarding affirmative action, segregation, and poverty. For specialized collections in African American studies, urban studies, and sociology.ÄSherri Barnes, Long Island Univ. Lib., Brooklyn (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.