Jim Crow Sociology

The Black and Southern Roots of American Sociology

Earl Wright II

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2026
• Print ISBN:
  9781469695297
  9781469695280
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9781469695303
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: African American Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Originally published in 2020, Jim Crow Sociology is a lauded history of how “Black sociology” came into existence. Diving into the history of four historically Black colleges and universities and their roles in pioneering a new intellectual field, Earl Wright II argues that the roots of sociology lie not in the primarily white Ivies but in HBCUs. Wright’s work is foundational in tracing the roots of sociology at distinct institutions. Tuskegee Institute, for example, established the first program of applied rural sociology under the leadership of Booker T. Washington. Fisk University, under the guidance of first George Edmund Haynes and then Charles S. Johnson, developed one of the earliest and most influential programs of applied urban sociology. The history of W. E. B. Du Bois’s Atlanta Sociological Laboratory reveals the contributions of women to the first American school of sociology.

In exploring the histories of these institutions and programs, Wright upends old ideas about the roots of an academic discipline and makes the case that sociology began in the United States as a Black and Southern enterprise.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword to the Revised Edition, by Zandria F. Robinson
• Preface: The Journey Toward My Life’s Work
• Introduction
• 1 The Black and Southern Roots of American Sociology
• 2 Atlanta Sociological Laboratory: The First American School of Sociology
• 3 Tuskegee Institute and Rural Sociology
• 4 Fisk and Howard: Laying the Foundations
• 5 The Golden Age of Black Sociology
• 6 Whither Black Sociology?
• Postscript
• Appendix I: Timeline of Noteworthy Events in Jim Crow Sociology
• Appendix II: Reading List of Early Black Sociologists and Schools of Black Sociology
• Appendix III: Reading List for a Course on Black Sociology
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index