Super Short Summary

Negroland by Margo Jefferson is a 2015 memoir that details her experiences growing up in an affluent African-American community in Chicago, reflecting on the broader history and status of America’s black elite. As the daughter of a pediatrician and a socialite, Jefferson navigates her upbringing under immense pressure to excel and maintain respectability in a predominantly white society. The memoir also explores her college years during the Civil Rights Movement and her subsequent struggles with the psychological burdens imparted by these high expectations. Themes of racial identity, societal pressure, and mental health challenges are central to her narrative.