Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Elliot Liebow was born in Washington, DC. He served in World War II and received his high school equivalency diploma while in the Marine Corps. After the war, Liebow received his bachelor's degree in English literature from George Washington University. He studied ancient history at the University of Maryland and received his PhD in anthropology from Catholic University. Liebow was employed by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) for 25 years and rose to the position of chief of the Center for the Study of Work and Mental Health. In his last years of retirement from NIMH, Liebow held the endowed chair as Patrick Cardinal O'Boyle professor at the National Catholic School of Social Work at Catholic University. Liebow's reputation is heavily based on the publication of a single book, Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men (1967). It had been his doctoral dissertation. The book has sold in excess of 800,000 copies, and it continues to be in print. Liebow was the son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants and had grown up in a poor African American neighborhood in Washington. This experience proved to be an asset for Liebow in establishing rapport with the subjects of Tally's Corner . In the early 1960s Liebow spent 18 months in the company of two dozen poor African American men who regularly congregated at a particular neighborhood street corner in the District. ... log in or subscribe to read full text