Black Bourgeoisie Critical Review Essay

Chapter 1: The Roots of the Black Bourgeoisie
1. According to the perspective of E. Franklin Frazier, the “Black Bourgeoisie played an important role among American Negros for decades. Frazier’s study led him to the significant of “Negro Business” and its impact on the black middle class. Education was a major social factor responsible for emergence of the Black bourgeoisie.
2. By fact, the net total number of the free Negroes in the first generation topped out at 37,245 with an estimated accumulation of 50,000,000 in real and personal wealth before the civil war. Free Negroes in southern cities undertook businesses in skilled labor such as carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, wheel wrights, brick layers, butchers, and painters.
3. The …show more content…
2. Patterns that had developed in the relationship between the “old” and “new” middle class blacks changed. As the Negro masses acquired education, they began gradually to flaunt the standards of behavior and values represented by the genteel tradition. The ascendancy of the “gentlemen” was not completely undermined until the mass migrations of Negroes to cities and the resulting accelerated occupational differentiation of the Negro population.
3. With respect to the concept of social etiquette, the old “genteel” families sought to preserve their traditions by withdrawing from the competition with the new professional classes in the Negro community. They expressed often their contempt for the black upstarts who, in their view, possessed neither morals nor manners. The “genteel” had to come to terms with the representatives of the Negro masses who had acquired an education, especially a professional education, or had become successful in business. Their attitude had to come to terms with the rising black masses.
4. Frazier sees the psychological impact of the black middle class breaking away from the “folk” tradition. He states, “The folk tradition of the Negro, like the genteel tradition, has been dissipated or transformed as the result of migration and urbanization.” Instead of old resignation towards the world, the Negro masses are acquiring a confidence in the efficacy of their efforts through the use of the ballot and in joining with fellow-workers

Show More

Related Documents: Black Bourgeoisie Critical Review Essay

American Fascism Is on the Rise Essay example