Bio: (1893–1956) American sociologist. Charles Spurgeon Johnson got his BA and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. A major race riot that occurred in Chicago in the summer of 1919 promted Chicago Commission on Race Relations to organize research on race relations, and Johnson directed this research from 1919 to 1921. The products of this research were published in the book The Negro in Chicago (1922).

For this research, he developed a data gathering technique, which he called “community self-survey of race relations,” which facilitated the gathering and interpretation of data from both African-Americans and the white population.

He moved to New York in 1921, where he directed the research for the National Urban League and edited their magazine Opportunity, which was a major voice of the Harlem Renaissance. He was the chairman of the social sciences department at Fisk University from 1928 to 1947. In his books, Johnson documented institutionalized discrimination and racism and advocated for the education of the black population, as it was the major force for real social change that would bring social equality.

Main works

The Negro in Chicago (1922);

The Negro in American Civilization (1930);

Shadow of the Plantation (1934);

The Negro College Graduate (1936);

Growing Up in the Black Belt (1941);

Patterns of Negro Segregation (1943);

The Negro War Worker in San Francisco, A Local Self Study (1944).