Episode 3: Black Bourgeoisie

What is the state of the Black Bourgeoisie? And who even is the Black Bourgeoisie? L gives M a preliminary entrance exam to see if he can make it (he fails). They reflect on common misconceptions of the Black bourgeoisie, with particular attention to the distinctions between “class” and “status”, and “wealth versus “income.” They swap examples from family and their dating lives, and pose questions about the future vitality of the Black bourgeoisie in relation to politics and literature.

 

Sources:

Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Margo Jefferson, Negroland

Franklin Frazier, Black Bourgeoisie

Lawrence Otis Graham, Our Kind of People 

Mary Patillo, Black Picket Fences

Kenneth W. Warren, What was African American Literature?