Negro Teen-Age Culture

Abstract

There are over three million Negro teen-agers in the United States, three-fourths of whom live in the South. Their position in the American social structure is decisively conditioned by race, inferiority, deprivation, and youthfulness. Within Negro society, they are differentiated into high-prestige and low-prestige categories on the basis of contrasting cultural heritages. Negro teen-age culture is a melange of general adolescent patterns and unique ethnic practices. Two modes of aggression tend to distinguish this group of teen-agers. Low-prestige youths exhibit unusual personal aggression; the college teen-agers have created the racial protest movement. Racial protest takes several forms and constitutes one of the most positive elements of current American teen-age culture. Negro teen-age behavior is an indigenous part of the American cultural heritage. Future developments, like current mani festations, are likely to be conditioned by social trends already in evidence. Among other things there will be measurable increase of the protest theme. It is to be hoped that the protest will continue to be disciplined and constructive.