White Bucks and Black-Eyed Peas: Coming Of Age Black In White America
by By Mabry, Marcus
Category: Social Science , Anthropology , Cultural & Social

White Bucks and Black-Eyed Peas tells the story of being "young, black and talented" in America - a position of rich promise and poignant uncertainty. Marcus Mabry was born and raised in "White City," an all-black enclave in suburban Trenton, New Jersey, and a community of strongly knit families struggling with poverty and despair. At the age of fourteen, Marcus was suddenly thrust into the white world when he won an academic scholarship to Lawrenceville, one of the nation's most prestigious prep schools. As he excelled within Lawrenceville's ivy-clad halls, he grew painfully aware of the racial ignorance that shapes the lives of even the most well meaning people.Mabry's odyssey continued into his years at Stanford, where he became embroiled in the debate about political correctness, and then later at Newsweek, where as one of the very few minority journalists at a major newsmagazine he learned firsthand about the negative portrayals of African-Americans in the press.