Raper, Arthur Franklin, 1899-1979

Arthur Franklin Raper was a distinguished sociologist whose early work focused on rural social issues and racial discrimination in the South. From the 1940s through the early 1960s, he worked for several government agencies on problems of rural development in Bangladesh as well as other countries in Southeast Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. After his work as senior advisor to the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, he returned to the United States and worked as a visiting professor at Michigan State University until his retirement in 1967.

Sociologist; interviewee d. 1979.

Research and Field Secretary of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation.

Arthur Franklin Raper (1899-1979) was a rural sociologist, civil rights activist, and social science analyst both in the United States and in other countries. Born in Davidson County, N.C., Raper's early career focused on analysis of rural problems and racial discrimination in the South. In 1940, he began his 22-year career as a social scientist and research analyst for several federal government agencies. After World War II, he became involved with problems of rural development on a global scale, studying conditions in Japan, Taiwan, other Asian countries, and in North Africa and the Middle East. In 1962, he went to Comilla, Pakistan, as senior advisor to the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development. He returned to the United States in 1964 and was a visiting professor at Michigan State University until his retirement in 1967.

Arthur Franklin Raper (1899-1979) attended both the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University. The early years of Raper's career were devoted to an analysis of rural problems and racial discrimination in Depression-era South. He was an activist who delivered speeches and gathered data as he worked to alleviate rural poverty and for the social and legal equality of African Americans. In 1940, Raper began his 22-year career as a social scientist and research analyst for several federal government agencies. His concern for southern agricultural reform continued, but after World War II, he became involved with problems of rural development on a global scale. He studied conditions in Japan, Taiwan, and several other countries in Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. During these years, Raper continued the activism that had characterized his earlier career. In 1962, he became senior advisor to the Pakistan Academy for Rural Development. He returned to America two years later, and was a visiting professor at Michigan State University until he retired in 1967. Between the time of his retirement and his death in 1979, Raper maintained an active interest in the worldwide struggle against social and political injustice.

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