Perspectives

It is very important for you to be able to put the text “Our America” by LeAlan Jones into perspective. It will enhance your understanding of the topic and help you engage in a meaningful dialogue about the text. In what follows, we will give you some points related to:   

• Periodical perspective and relevance today: Segregation in the 1940's, ghetto today
• Societal perspective
• Textual perspective: "Adam" by Michael Lee Cohen

Periodical perspective and relevance today

“Our America” was published in the mid-nineties and is practically a transcript of a series of radio documentaries on ghetto-life and the conditions African-Americans lived in.

In his book, LeAlan describes his experience of Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing project, which represented houses built in 1940 for black families in order to maintain segregation between blacks and whites. In time, the neighborhood was neglected by the authorities, and gangs formed, dealing drugs or weapons.

While, at the time, criminality rates among the A...