E. Franklin Frazier

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Poster from Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. News Bureau, 1943
Frazier in 1922

Edward Franklin Frazier (

African-American family from the time of slavery to the mid-1930s. The book was awarded the 1940 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
for the most significant work in the field of race relations. It was among the first sociological works on Black people researched and written by a black person.

In 1948 Frazier was elected as the first black president of the

The Race Question
.

Frazier wrote a dozen books in his lifetime, including The Black Bourgeoisie, a critique of the

African-American businesses
to produce racial equality.

Biography

Frazier was born in

historically black college
.

He graduated with honors from Howard in 1916. Frazier was a top scholar, pursuing Latin, Greek, German and mathematics. He also participated in extracurricular activities including drama, political science, the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. He was elected as class president in both 1915 and 1916.[1]

Following graduation from Howard, Frazier attended

New York School of Social Work (later part of Columbia University).[1]

Frazier taught sociology at

White people in the South, he argued, were literally driven mad by the "Negro-complex," to the point that "men and women who are otherwise kind and law-abiding will indulge in the most revolting forms of cruelty towards black people."[2]

An Atlanta paper carried an editorial against Frazier's work, which indirectly publicized his article.[3] Already planning to move to Chicago, Frazier and his family left Atlanta early because of severe threats made against them due to the controversy and hostility among whites generated by his article.[3] He had a fellowship from the University of Chicago's sociology department. His studies at Chicago culminated in his earning a Ph.D. in 1931.[1]

Frazier was also teaching at Fisk University during this period, from 1929 to 1934. That year he returned to Howard University, where he taught from 1934 until his death in 1962.[1] After founding and leading the D.C. chapter of the American Sociological Association, Frazier was elected as its first black president in 1948.[1] At Howard, Frazier was a prominent member of the Howard School of International Relations, where his scholarship and research augmented Race and Empire in International Affairs .[4]

In his research and writing, Frazier adopted an approach that examined economic, political and attitudinal factors that shape the systems of social relationships. He continually pressed to find the "social reality" in any context he investigated. His stature was recognized by his election in 1948 as the first black president of the American Sociological Association. "He was established as the leading American scholar on the black family and was also recognized as a leading theorist on the dynamics of social change and race relations."[5]

Frazier's position emphasized African-American cultural developments as a process of accommodation to new conditions in the Americas. Frazier's Black Bourgeoisie, the 1957 English translation of a work first published in French in 1955, was a critical examination of the adoption by middle-class African Americans of a subservient conservatism. His book received "mixed reviews and harsh criticism from the black middle and professional class. Yet Frazier stood solidly by his argument that the black middle class was marked by conspicuous consumption, wish fulfillment, and a world of make-believe."[5]

Frazier's Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World, published in 1957, explored the relations between the European and non-European races along four categories: ecological, economic, political, and social.[6] The study argued that the economic expansion of Europe remained the most important factor underlying race relations. Likewise, it argued that the new regional power structure birthed out of the Cold War gave non-white peoples an increasingly important role in international affairs with the UN also acting as an arena for the struggles emergent in race relations.

Frazier published eight books, 89 articles and 18 chapters in books edited by others.[citation needed]

Frazier died on May 17, 1962, age 67, in Washington, D.C. He has been ranked among the most important African Americans for his influence on institutions and practices to accept the demands by African Americans for economic, political and social equality in American life.

Some of Frazier's writings generated controversy in the black community for their focus on the effects of slavery and how it divided the black family.

McCarthy era, when there was conservative political pressure against liberals, Frazier supported civil rights for African Americans; he was also a member of the Council on African Affairs.[8]

Legacy and honors

  • Howard University named its E. Franklin Frazier Center for Social Work Research after him.
  • Clark University created a chair and professorship in his name: The E. Franklin Frazier Chair and Professor of English.

Published works

  • The Free Negro Family: a Study of Family Origins Before the Civil War (Nashville: Fisk University Press, 1932)
  • The Negro Family in Chicago (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1932)
  • The Negro Family in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939)
  • Negro Youth at the Crossways: Their Personality Development in the Middle States (Washington, D.C.: American Council on Education, 1940)
  • The Negro Family in Bahia, Brazil (1942)
  • The Negro in the United States (New York: Macmillan, 1949)
  • The Integration of the Negro into American Society (editor) (Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1951.
  • Bourgeoisie noire (Paris: Plon, 1955)
  • Black Bourgeoisie (translation of Bourgeoisie noire)(Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1957)
  • Race and Culture Contacts in the Modern World (New York: Knopf, 1957)
  • The Negro Church in America (New York: Schocken Books, 1963)
  • On Race Relations: Selected Writings, edited and with an introduction by G. Franklin Edwards, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "E. Franklin Frazier, Biography and bibliography", Howard University
  2. ^ Edward Franklin Frazier, "The Pathology of Race Prejudice", Forum Archives, June 1927
  3. ^ a b Denise Velez, "E. Franklin Frazier and the pathology of race prejudice"[permanent dead link], The Motley Moose blog, 24 September 2013, accessed 11 October 2015
  4. SSRN 2517975
    – via SSRN.
  5. ^ a b "E. Franklin Frazier and the Black Bourgeoisie"; About the Book[permanent dead link], University of Missouri Press, accessed 11 October 2015
  6. ISBN 9780313205798
    .
  7. ^ "NASW Celebrates Black History Month 2005! "Edward Franklin Frazier (1894–1962)"". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007.
  8. ^ James E. Teele (ed), E. Franklin Frazier and the Black Bourgeoisie, University of Missouri, 2002.

Further reading

  • Jonathan Scott Holloway. Confronting the Veil: Abram Harris Jr., E. Franklin Frazier, and Ralph Bunche, 1919–1941. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
  • Jackson, E. R. Frazier, E. Franklin. American National Biography Online. 2000.
  • "E. Franklin Frazier", Washington Post, September 6, 1966.
  • Robert K. Merton, The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations, edited with an introduction by Norman W. Storer, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, p. 136.

External links

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