Frazier, E. Franklin
(1894-1963) Prominent African American sociologist who studied with Robert E. Park at the University of Chicago and went on to become a major student of race relations, the black family, and the black middle class in the United States. Although Frazier was not a specialist on religion, his The Negro Church in America (Schocken 1963) has served as a classic overview of African American religion. In his view, the “black church” historically functioned as an institution of accommodation and refuge in a racist society but was being called upon to respond to processes of secularization and modernization.
—Hans A. Baer