Black Bourgeoisie, by E. Franklin Frazier, exposed a “world of make-believe” among educated and affluent blacks, including their elitism and isolation from white society. He described and criticized how they imitated white elites.

Published during his term as chair of Howard University's Department of Sociology, his book provoked strong criticism. One reviewer called it “a savage demystification of the ‘myth of Negro business,’” conveying a “lack of sympathy in its stark objectivity” (Thompson, 2000). It was revealing, all the same. For after the Brown decision, African Americans would expand the struggle against segregation in the context of their persistent class divisions.