As the stepson of a Navy man, McCall grew up in various locations, such as
Morocco,
Norfolk, Virginia and the Cavalier Manor section of
Portsmouth, Virginia. After serving three years in prison, he studied journalism at
Norfolk State University. He reported for
The Virginian Pilot-Ledger Star and
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before moving to
The Washington Post In 1989. In his first book,
Makes Me Wanna Holler, McCall provides a detailed story of his life of violence and street crime, as well as the hardships he experienced growing up with racial profiling, class differences and peer pressure. He describes, in graphic detail, gang-rapes and violent assaults he participated in during his youth. His second book, ''
What's Going On'', used personal essays to discuss some larger issues such as social, cultural, and political tensions that affect the modern day United States. After the success of his books, McCall was in demand as a speaker. He left
The Washington Post for the
lecture circuit. Today he continues to write, and holds the post of lecturer in the Department of African-American Studies at
Emory University in
Atlanta, Georgia. His first novel
Them: A Novel, dealing with issues of
gentrification in an Atlanta neighborhood, was published in 2007.
Them tells the story of Barlowe Reed, a single, forty-something African-American man, who has to come to terms with the gentrification of his neighborhood, in particular the influx of white people to the area. In an April 2014 interview with
Ebony magazine, McCall stated that he was amazed that
Makes Me Wanna Holler was still selling after 20 years. ==References==