Assimilation Blues: Black Families in a White Community (Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies, No. 108) [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Beverly Daniel Tatum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2000

This incisive study uses a phenomenological approach in its examination of black families in a white community. It goes beyond the probability statistics of attitude and behavior surveys to let the families speak for themselves about their experiences. Assimilation Blues provides an in-depth look at the realities of being a middle-class black parent, living, working, and raising children in a predominantly white community, through first-hand interviews. The candid responses of both parents and children about their lives and experiences raise many important issues that have immediate relevance for black families regardless of where they live.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, at Westfield State College, in Massachusetts. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 139 pages
• ISBN-10: 0465083609
• ASIN: B000C4T4FQ
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,101,164 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A THOUGHTFUL REFLECTION BY A NOTED EDUCATOR, December 1, 2010

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Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Beverly Daniel Tatum is the president of Spelman College, and formerly taught at Westfield State College, UC Santa Barbara, and Mount Holyoke College. She has also written books such as "Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity and Can We Talk About Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation.

She begins this 1987 book with the statement, "What does it mean to be a middle-class Black parent living, working and raising children in the midst of a predominantly White Community? Does it mean opportunity, success, the 'American Dream' realized, or is it rootlessness, isolation, and alienation?"

Here are some quotations from the book:

"Almost all of the parents, 16 out of the 20, indicate that it is important for their children to have Black friends. In fact, the mother quoted above, while pointing out that her kids have 1 or 2 Black friends, really bemoans the fact that there have not been more." (Pg. 79)
"Is there anything about Sun Beach that makes life easier or more difficult? The sample respondents are evenly split on this question, some individuals taking both positions simultaneously. The advantages that were cited before are repeated. It's 'pretty,' it's 'safe,' it's '70 degrees year round.' Who would not want to live in a very beautiful, warm, clean, secure physical environment?" (Pg. 99)
"Though the example of Japanese-American acculturation suggest that reduction in group identification and cultural continuity is a possible outcome of residence in predominantly White communities, is it an inevitably unpreventable one?" (Pg. 126)