Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-260) and index

"Black Picket Fences is a stark, moving, and candid look at a section of America that is too often ignored by both scholars and the media: the black middle class. After living for three years in "Groveland," a black middle-class neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, sociologist Mary Pattillo-McCoy writes, "I had seen three groups of eighth-graders graduate to high school, high school kids go on to college, and college graduates start their careers. I also heard too many stories and read too many obituaries of the teenagers who were jailed or killed along the way. The son of a police detective in jail for murder. The grandson of a teacher shot while visiting his girlfriend's house. The daughter of a park supervisor living with a drug dealer who would later be killed at a fast-food restaurant." Both troublesome and hopeful, these are the discontinuities in the daily life of Groveland residents that Pattillo-McCoy seeks to explain." "Despite arguments that race no longer matters, Pattillo-McCoy shows a different reality: Even the black and white middle classes remain separate and unequal."--Jacket

1. The black middle class: Who, when, and where? -- 2. The making of Groveland -- 3. Generations through a changing economy -- 4. Neighborhood networks and crime -- 5. Growing up in Groveland -- 6. In a ghetto trance -- 7. Nike's reign -- 8. William "Spider" Waters, Jr.: Straddling two worlds -- 9. Typical Terri Jones -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Research method -- Appendix B: Groveland neighborhood characteristics

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