Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race

Table of Contents - 2008 - Volume 5, Issue 02  

STATE OF THE ART

A FRESH LOOK AT E. FRANKLIN FRAZIER'S SEXUAL POLITICS IN THE NEGRO FAMILY IN THE UNITED STATES

Anastasia Curwooda1 c1

a1 Program in African American and Diaspora Studies, Vanderbilt University

Abstract

This article brings Frazier's ideas about male and female family roles into focus. Although Frazier was at the forefront of arguing for racial equality in the 1930s, his ideas remained limited by his belief that African Americans should assimilate into the gender and sexual ideals of patriarchal U.S. culture. At the center of this article is Frazier's conviction that middle-class egalitarian marriages, women's participation in the waged work force, and increased consumption of material goods would perpetuate or worsen African Americans' family health. Importantly, this article argues that Frazier's socialist political alignments and his suspicion of bourgeois norms were inseparable from his suspicion of middle-class Black women and notions of morality. Ultimately, it suggests that his mistrust of women colors social scientists' treatments of Black Americans throughout the twentieth century.

Keywords

  • E. Franklin Frazier;
  • Sexuality;
  • Gender;
  • Marriage;
  • Middle Class

Correspondence:

c1 Professor Anastasia Curwood, Department of African American and Diaspora Studies, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B, Box 351516, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-1516. E-mail: a.curwood@vanderbilt.edu

Footnotes

I wish to acknowledge the generous assistance of Karen Campbell, Carol Skricki, and my colleagues in African American and Diaspora Studies, Vanderbilt University, in the preparation of this article. All errors are my own.