Assimilation Blues: Black Families In White Communities, Who Succeeds And Why

by Tatum, Beverly Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780465083602
• ISBN10: 0465083609
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-01-07
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

What does it mean to be Black in a white, middle-class community? Is it the ultimate symbol of success? Or will one pay in isolation, alienation, rootlessness? What price must one pay for paradise? Is the price too high?Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, interviewed Black families in depth to identify the sacrifices and achievements necessary to survive and prosper in a white community. For the Black citizens of "Sun Beach," dual-income households, religious affiliation, and extended families help maintain stability. But with assimilation comes an insidious "hidden racism," subtly communicated when Black children aren't called on in class and revealed more fully in incidents of racial name-calling. By listening to the individual voices of these children and their parents, Dr. Tatum skillfully probes the complex questions of identity that arise for a visible people rendered invisible by their surroundings.

Author Biography

Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology and dean of Mount Holyoke College as well as a psychologist in private practice. She is the author of“Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”

Table of Contents

Introduction to the 2000 Edition	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Invisible Families and Black Family Research	p. 1
Welcome to Sun Beach	p. 21
A Long Way from Home	p. 41
Troubled in Paradise?	p. 63
Nowhere to Run--Surviving in Sun Beach	p. 93
Making Choices	p. 111
Bibliography	p. 131
Index	p. 137
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