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Horace R. Cayton Jr.

ホレース・ロスコー・ケイトン・ジュニア

Horace Roscoe Cayton Jr.

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1903-04-12 （Seattle, Washington, United States）
Died
1970-01-21 （Paris, France） age 66
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Seattle (birth and childhood) → Chicago (graduate study, research, career) → Nashville (taught at Fisk University) → New York (work and writing) → Monterey Bay area (Capitola, Aptos) → Santa Cruz (later residence) → Paris (died while on a research trip)

Career

Occupations
Sociologist, Newspaper columnist, Writer, Researcher, Educator
Active Years
1925-1970
Influenced By
W. E. B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Richard Wright (friend and intellectual associate)
Influenced
St. Clair Drake (co-author/colleague), Robert D. Bullard (urban studies and environmental justice scholar)

Education

Franklin High School (Seattle)
Country: United States
High school attended; exact graduation year unknown.
University of Washington
Sociology (undergraduate study)
Country: United States
Undergraduate studies; later pursued graduate work in Chicago.
University of Chicago (graduate study)
Sociology (graduate study)
Period: 1929-不明
Country: United States
Moved to Chicago in 1929 for graduate study in sociology.

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Black Metropolis: A Study of Negro Life in a Northern City

1945 Sociology / Urban studies

A seminal study of Chicago's South Side (Bronzeville) examining its history and the social and economic structures of the black community, analyzing how urbanization and race relations shaped middle- and working-class black life.

Urban sociologyRace relationsEconomic inequalityCommunity history

Black Workers and the New Unions

1939 Sociology / Labor history

An analysis of the status of black workers and their relationship with emerging labor unions in the context of the WPA and labor movements.

Labor historyLabor movementsPolicy and race

Long Old Road: An Autobiography

1965 Autobiography

An autobiographical work recalling his upbringing, academic career, and activism, portraying the position of a 20th-century black intellectual through personal experience.

MemoirRace and societyRole of intellectuals

Bibliography

  • Report on the Negro's Share in Industrial Rehabilitation (1935)
  • Black Workers and the New Unions (1939)
  • Negro Housing in Chicago (1940)
  • Black Metropolis (1945; revised edition 1962)
  • The Psychological Approach to Race Relations (1946)
  • Bronzeville (with St. Clair Drake; magazine piece, 1947)
  • The Chinese in the United States and the Chinese Christian Churches (1955)
  • Long Old Road: An Autobiography (1965)
  • Personal Experiences in Race Relations (1967)
  • Horace Roscoe Cayton: Selected Writings (ed. 2002)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Scholarly, empirical expositionJournalistic, accessible prose
Recurring Motifs
Urban communitiesIntersection of race and classLabor and economic structures

Health

  • Influenza
    1970年1月（最終的な罹患）
    Contracted influenza while on a research trip and died as a result.

Legacy

Horace R. Cayton Jr. made significant contributions to urban sociology and African American studies—most notably through Black Metropolis (1945). His empirical work deepened understanding of race and class in urban contexts and influenced later scholars and policy research.

Academic Societies

  • American Sociological Association (associated field)

Archives

  • Horace R. Cayton Papers (Chicago Public Library)

In Popular Culture

  • Frequently cited in urban history and civil rights scholarship and textbooks.

Trivia

  • His mother was a granddaughter of Hiram R. Revels, the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate.
  • The Cayton family maintained an upper-middle-class lifestyle in Seattle and employed a Japanese servant.
  • In the 1950s he had a relationship with author Lore Segal, who later referenced the experience in fiction.