NegrolandNegroland
Score Modern
What it's about
Margo Jefferson grew up in upper-crust Black Chicago, the daughter of a pediatrician and a socialite, in what she calls Negroland, a small region of Black America sheltered by privilege. Her memoir examines the expectations, contradictions and costs of that world.
Why it's worth reading
It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for memoir and was a Baillie Gifford Prize finalist.
You'll love it if you liked
Between the World and Me
Notes of a Native Son
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great MigrationGood to know
It's part memoir, part cultural history, written in a distinctive style.
By the numbers
- Readers22 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics61 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller9 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz4 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #177 of the 198 history books we rank
- #234 of the 290 memoirs and biographies we rank
- #1087 of the 1,573 modern books we rank
- #2008 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
True story
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Quick answers
Is Negroland worth reading?
Yes. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for memoir and was a Baillie Gifford Prize finalist. It ranks #2,008 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 63.8 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Negroland about?
Margo Jefferson grew up in upper-crust Black Chicago, the daughter of a pediatrician and a socialite, in what she calls Negroland, a small region of Black America sheltered by privilege. Her memoir examines the expectations, contradictions and costs of that world.
How long does it take to read Negroland?
About 6 hours (248 pages), or about 2 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has Negroland won?
NBCC Award (Memoir) winner (2015).
What should I read after Negroland?
If you liked it, try Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin or The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson.