Brittany Bitters

Professor Axana King

Sociology 1010
8 April 2014
Assignment 3
After watching the documentary, Two Nations of Black America, it is apparent that the
African American community has been distinctly divided into two social classes: black middle
class and black underclass. The two groups are the largest they have ever been, and the gap
between the two is continuing to grow and separate the African American community; making it
even more difficult for those who are a part of the black underclass to reach the middle class. In
the film it was stated that the gap between the two black social classes is just as large as the gap
between white and black races.
In the text Essentials of Sociology author James M. Henslin discusses sociologist
William Julius Wilsons view on the separation of classes within the African American
community. Wilson believes that race is no longer the prominent cause of this controversial issue
and is not the forefront reasoning for the life chances of the African American people, but that
social class it is now the main cause. He also goes on in both the film and in the Henslins text
stating that the separation also stems from the differences in cultures and views. People are
culturally bonded, but due to the separation of the two different classes, they live in two separate
African American cultures. It is difficult for both classes to relate to one another even though
they come from the same ancestry and past culture.
A large portion of the film focuses on the civil rights movement of 1964/ 1965 and the
rise of radical groups like the Black Panthers and Nationalists, and how these groups slowed
down the civil rights movement. The separation of views within the civil rights movement
brought division within the black community. The violent revolution turned away change and
only attacked the revolution within its own establishment. The biggest thing that stood out was
that the film focused on how the real issue then and now, has to do with a society that is built
upon the arrangements of social classes and puts a lot of emphasis on the class structure, and
continues to allow poverty within the United States. The civil rights movement could not solve
the issues with poverty, but it allowed African Americans to have new opportunities, that were
seized by many but not all.
The seizing of such opportunities created a major division between those African
Americans with skills and those without, so when blue-collar jobs were moved to the suburbs the
working class was left in shambles. But the newly skilled workers left their African American
communities for middleclass, comfortable living; ultimately separating the black community into
different classes and cultures. This view of social class versus race does not mean that constant
discrimination is not present in the life of both African American communities, but just puts
more emphasis on the class structure of the United States and how it has even affected the
African American community. The separation of social classes means that we need both a
working class and a middle class; and that our society strives more on inequality than equality.
That doesnt necessarily mean inequality based on race (although this is present too), but that
inequality occurs within social classes, and where one starts predetermines their life
opportunities and chances of success. The real issue lies within economic problems: wealth,
income and assets.