E. Franklin Frazier Reconsidered

A pioneer of Afro-American studies, E. Franklin Frazier (1894-1962) was embroiled in controversy. An outspoken critic of the black middle class's ``servile conformity,'' an unwavering atheist, a leftist continually harassed by the FBI, the pugnacious, determined sociologist was highly suspicious of the cultural nationalism of the 1920s Negro Renaissance. His portrayal of the ``disorganized'' black urban family, battered by racism and exploitation, was held by critics to be a key influence on the notorious Moynihan Report , the 1965 study in which Daniel P. Moynihan posited a ``tangle of pathology'' strangling inner-city communities. In this admirably balanced, engrossing biography, Platt defends Frazier from his detractors, showing that Frazier's writings on African-American family life demolished racist stereotypes about the monolithic nature of the black family. Platt is a professor of social work at California State University. Photos. (Apr.)