ABSTRACT
To continue this historical trends analysis of scientifi c sociological thought, between the two World Wars, social scientists, particularly sociologists and anthropologists, began to examine black social life empirically in a more positive environmental light though with paradoxes, contradictions, and dilemmas in a Jim Crow America worthy of in-depth consideration.1 As the national distribution of Blacks changed dramatically in the fi rst quarter of the twentieth century, the issue of their moral assimilation and marginal economic integration into an urbanizing society became known as “the Negro problem.” “Moral assimilation” meant that Blacks, especially the lower class, only needed to be exposed to the “proper” institutions to learn the values, norms, and beliefs of white society, while “marginal economic integration” meant that Blacks migrating into urban areas posed a threat to white labor and, thus, had to be integrated into urban areas in ways which minimized competition with Whites. Presumably the “Negro problem” would be solved when Blacks were morally assimilated and economically integrated into dominant society. Even social scientists, such as Charles S. Johnson, E. Franklin Frazier, and Gunnar Myrdal who offered structural explanations of racial discrimination couched their arguments in terms of moral dilemma and moral assimilation.
