Inside the Negro Middle Class (1968)

“The Negro middle class, torn between white goals and black needs...“ Examined by William Greaves and William Branch in a 90-minute NET Produced episode and enlists the narrating talents of outstanding actor Ossie Davis. The program notes that five million black Americans - one in four - have attained middle class income, and that their marketshare now totals 32 billion dollars. But being “middle class“ is not merely a matter of income. It is a question of behavior, or aspirations, of respectability, according to sociologist St. Clair Drake of Roosevelt University. And it is here that the break occurs. Though many black people remain committed to the suburban, basically white, aspiration, others have become affected by the black movement. The conflicts posed for the black middle class are articulated by such spokesmen as John H. Johnson, president of Johnson Publishing Co.; Robert Johnson, editor of Jet magazine; St. Clair Drake, Roosevelt University sociology department and