The School on 103rd Street

This is a story in a league by itself. This author manages to complete a story about the black struggle of the 70's and those middle-class Blacks who struggle to fit in the mold of acceptance for both the black and white world that they had to live in. I found the story interesting until the jest of an underground jail and all the rhetoric about the "white man" and his effort to keep the blacks in their places. The story rang an odd fiction twist that you couldn't imagine but, in the end, it was different and enjoyable even though the emphasis of dismantling underground jails across the country was a tad over the top. I'll be looking forward to more stories about these narratives in the future.

what lies beneath? the school on 103rd st brought back many, many memories of growing up in los angeles during the 60's and 70's. roland jefferson's gift of authentic characterization and setting kept me not only reading the words but getting into the scenes, people, old times. of all the novels i have read, this is the most realistic and thought-provoking. i enjoy literature that keeps me thinking long beyond the last page in a book.

The School on 103rd Roland S. Jefferson Rating: 5 Dr. Elwin Carter works in the Ghetto at The Service Center a medical clinic servicing the poor in the Watts, CA neighborhood. His character comes off as the type of man that is passionate about his work and "Black and Proud" in the 70's. He wears a natural and rocks dashiki's to the clinic. When two of the neighborhood young men confide in him about the brutal murder of one of their friends Dr. Carter helps the boys investigate why a kid with not involvement in the criminal element would get murdered. Together with Dr. Carter's team, they discover a country wide government secret. That secret if not handled delicately will spark a new civil war. I enjoy the way Dr. Jefferson can bring a time period to life. I could hear the music and feel the vibe from the 70's. Because the details were so crisp, I could visualize being there during that time. While it was a little slow at first, I still can't wait to read the rest of Dr. Jefferson's books. Reviewed by: Courtney [...]

I read School on 103rd when it was re-issued back in 1997, and thought it was an incredible read at the time. Easily on par with Sam Greenlee's Spook Who Sat By the Door (an all time favorite). I recently when back and revisited School on 103rd, and it still holds up all these years later. It is a provocative work that is reflective of the era it was written (the 1970s, during the height of blaxploitation), but it still works.

THE SCHOOL ON 103RD STREET was slow in the beginning, but picked up quickly. It was scary in the effect that this is something that could actually take place, especially if the government is involved. Who could say that it couldn't? It's this type of fiction that makes you think, which is what a good novel is supposed to do. The end of the book and the killing involved didn't make much sense to me (I had to come to some type of conclusion to neatly wrap the book up in my mind), but still, It had a sense of purpose and need to be read by all african-amercians.

The paranoia displayed by the author and his characters may seem extreme to a white reader like myself. However, considering that this thriller is just as well written and tightly plotted as any bloated supermarket/airport paperback written by a white author (which isn't saying much) and is only now finally being reprinted by a mainstream trade paperback publisher, the author's suspicion and bitterness is understandable.