Summary

In Chapter 7, Jefferson says the people of Negroland felt they were a Third Race that had the advantage of the Third Eye. She goes on to describe how they felt about themselves, including that they had more ambition than either whites or the less-affluent blacks. Despite that, the Negroes of her generation sought to become more like whites in all ways possible, and bragged about any white blood in their ancestry. She said the whites wanted the same things. Jefferson claims the whites failed more often, but the color of their skin meant they were not judged the same as Negroes with the same failures.

In Chapter 8, Jefferson launches into a list of attributes coveted by the young women of Negroland. They were under “stringent” standards as to what constituted beauty. They were taught to take ruthless stock of problem areas and to...