Ebook: Jim Crow Sociology: The Black and Southern Roots of American Sociology

Jim Crow Sociology: The Black and Southern Roots of American Sociology is an extraordinary contribution to the discipline that examines the origin, development and significance of Black Sociology through the accomplishments of early African American sociologists at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Atlanta University, Tuskegee Institute, Fisk University and Howard University. Black Sociology is a concept that weaponizes the discipline for that which is "right and good" and prioritizes scholar activist inspired research directed at impacting real world condition of African Americans. Guided by this idea, this book debunks the idea that the sociology of early African Americans, with the exception of W. E. B. Du Bois, does not exemplify scholarly excellence. Instead, Wright posits that Tuskegee Institute, under the leadership of Booker T. Washington, establishes the first applied program of rural sociology and Fisk University, first under the guidance of George Edmund Haynes then Charles S. Johnson, develops one of the earliest and most impactful programs of applied urban sociology. Wright extends our understanding of Du Bois's Atlanta Sociological Laboratory with an articulation of the contributions of women to the first American school of sociology. Jim Crow Sociology forces contemporary scholars to grapple with who are and are not included in the disciplinary canon. Specifically, this book forces us to ask why early African American sociologists and HBCUs are not canonized. What makes this book most consequential is that it provides evidence supporting the proposition that sociology began in earnest in the United States as a Black and southern enterprise.