The Negro family in the United States [Hardcover]

Edward Franklin Frazier (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

An Air Full Of Ghosts
At The Northern Gate
Aubade Left Behind In San Diego Harbor
Becalmed, The Director's Cut
Blocked Views, Bad Sightlines
Canal And Camelback Mountain
Curious About The Crows?
Dancing In The Dark
A Date With Sunset
Divining
Do You Want To Talk About It?
Don't Try This At Home
Epilogue And Unraveling: Pig-headed Father, Churlish Son
Eppur, Si Muove
Escape From The Orkneys
Eternal Weather At The Holiday Inn In Milledgeville
The Eugenics Lab
The Flayed Man At The Fin De Siecle
Guilt
Hail And Farewell At St. Andrews
How Long Has This Been Going On
In The Open
John Ford On His Death Bed
Just One Look
Moon Pie On The Hill
No Messages
No Place Like Home
Object In An Inventory (2)
Overture: The Bright Day
Paradise Mall
Phony Winter Solstice Ceremonies Unmasked
Picnic Suite: 1. Langue Et Parole
Picnic Suite: 2. Moonglow
Picnic Suite: 3. Lamoille River Seduction
Picnic Suite: 4. A Southern Indiana Boyhood
Picnic Suite: 5. Some Pigs
Raw Or Cooked?
Say You Will
Sentimental Journey
Shot On Site
Smoke Trail
Spring, Not Seen
Stranded On The Shore
String Of Beads
Where Was Voo Doo When We Needed It
Yes
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 372 pages
• Publisher: Dryden Press; Revised & abridged edition (1951)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0007EZ914
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,766,753 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grim, but very important, July 6, 2011

By 

Andre M. "brnn64" (Mt. Pleasant, SC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Negro Family in the United States (African American Intellectual Heritage) (Paperback)

Many books written by Black Americans about Black Americans during this period (1939) tended to be efforts in boosterism, positive screeds designed to uplift the morale of a people in a desolate situation. While this is understandable, it tends to give a false picture of African American life during that era and has given rise to the idea (popular in some circles) that Blacks were better off during the pre-integration era.

Howard University sociologist E. Franklin Frazier caused an uproar among African Americans with this 1957 book "Black Bourgeoise" in which he accurately laid bare the bitter realities of self-hatred among the Black middle class. Less controversial, and less widely known, was this volume from 1939. While most Black writers did not want to "air dirty laundry" among white readers for fear of encouraging racism, Dr. Franklin told raw truths of the conditions of Black America in 1939. This sociological study takes glimpses of Black family life through much of the United States and reports often grim tales of family disintegration and disfunction long before the Moynihan Report or Bill Cosby or Barack Obama's speeches on this matter. We see young Blacks who escape the vicious racism of the South to ghetto life, violence, and loose social and sexual relations in the North (Dr. Frazier makes clear that while such situations existed in the South, fear of social censure tended to keep such incidents at a lower scale.

Franklin also goes into deep (and sad) detail about self-hatred among Blacks, which resulted from slavery and segregation. He interviews families caught up in the light skin vs. dark skin conflicts,as well as heavy classism against poor Blacks. He also speaks of "successful" middle class Blacks whose real reason for not desiring integration is a fear of being unable to comepte with Whites. What he says about the effect on Black children (long before the famous "doll test") is really horrifying. This should give pause to those who believe that Blacks were better off during that era.

So if you want a sobering history lesson, read this book. It may also shed light on some lingering conditions in today's African American community.