"Promised Land " by Nicholas Lemann analysis

A detailed Summary of "Promised Land " by Nicholas Lemann analysis

In the southern United States cotton has been king for a couple of centuries. In the early days of the cotton plantations there were black slaves that tilled the land planted and raised the cotton until it was ready to be harvested by them. The practice of slavery was abolished at the end of the Civil War and there was a large number of blacks without work, education or any way to make money because all they knew was farming. The African Americans then began to work for little pay for the people that had once owned them. After a period where blacks were used as hired hands they then started to use the share cropping system. This system is where the owner of the farm lets another man farm his land and they divide the profit from the crop up. This way the former slaves can get started doing what they know how to do and can eventually save enough cash so they can get a farm started on there own. Sounds like a good way to live but in the novel "Promised Land " by Nicholas Lemann the process is exposed for all the problems that existed and how it hurt the African Americans that participated in sharecropping.

The novel revolves around Clarksdale, Mississippi for the first quarter of the subject and exp

When the migrants to Chicago fell into the lifestyle that was there were problems with alcoholism and drug abuse in the slums. The "underclass" had begun to evolve by the mid 1960's. Gangs started wars over territories and introduced new drugs and new problems. The gangs forced young kids to join by taunting and beating them to avoid this the boys and girls had to join the gang. The gangs encouraged vandalism and crime as well as sex at an early age to show that you were worthy enough to be in the gang. School was not a priority for the gang members and drop out rates were at better than 50 percent of those who started school. The families that moved from Clarksdale could not avoid these problems. Drugs, alcohol, and unwed mothers ran rampant in the projects of Chicago and still do. Mothers would spend there money on their drug habits and fathers would spend there paychecks on things that they wanted so none of the money that was supposed to keep the family going hardly got there. All of these factors caused crime to get out of control and make it unsafe for all of those who lived in the projects. Life was even unsafe for policemen who would not patrol the ghetto at night. Everyone was scared for his or her life.

At first the African Americans lived in the lower class area on the south side of Chicago and work in the factories that were nearby and there were no gangs. The family situation was still there that mothers would have children out of wedlock to several different fathers. Mothers started to work the welfare system to their advantage by lying about certain things that would help them to either get the monthly payment or get more money each month. More and more famil

Some common words found in the essay are:
African Americans, Chicago Mothers, Illinois Clarksdale, Ruby Hopkins, Clarksdale Mississippi, African American's, Life Southside, Civil War, Nicholas Lemann, african americans, promised land, south chicago, drug abuse, life lemann, families moved, blacks moving, drug habits,

Approximate Word count = 1149
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History