"[10] According to Lucy Scholes in The Independent: "The excellent On Michael Jackson is not a straightforward biography, nor is it an attempt to claim either his innocence or his guilt when it comes to the child abuse scandals that, although he was acquitted, haunt his afterlife.

A 'deciphering' is probably the most accurate description of the book, the shrewd playfulness of Jefferson's prose the perfect vehicle for analysis that's as smart as it is readable.

It was described by Dwight Garner in The New York Times as a "powerful and complicated memoir",[12] and by Margaret Busby in The Sunday Times as "utterly compelling",[13] while Anita Sethi wrote in The Observer: "Jefferson fascinatingly explores how her personal experience intersected with politics, from the civil rights movement to feminism, as well as history before her birth.

"[14] Tracy K. Smith wrote in The New York Times: "The visible narrative apparatus of 'Negroland' highlights its author's extreme vulnerability in the face of her material.

"[15] In 2016 Negroland was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction[16][17] and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the Autobiography category.