While on a visit to Atlanta during the winter holiday season, the sociologist Lois

Benjamin (1991) called up the mother of an old college friend. Benjamin was eager to
learn about Sheba; both women had dreamed about earning a graduate degree,
landing a teaching job, and writing books. Now a successful university professor,
Benjamin had seen her dream come true. But as she soon found out, this was not the
case with Sheba. Benjamin recalled early signs of trouble. After college, Sheba had
begun graduate work at a Canadian university. But in letters to Benjamin, Sheba
became more and more critical of the world and seemed to be cutting herself off from
others. Some classmates wondered if she was suffering from a personality disorder.
But as Sheba saw it, the problem was racism. As an African American woman, she
felt she was the target of racial hostility. Before long, she flunked out of school,
blaming the failure on her white professors. At this point, she left North America,
earning a Ph.D. in England and then settling in Nigeria. Benjamin had not heard from
her friend in the years since. Benjamin was happy to hear that Sheba had returned to
Atlanta. But her delight dissolved into shock when she saw Sheba and realized that
her friend had suffered a mental breakdown and was barely responsive to anyone.
For months, Sheba’s emotional collapse troubled Benjamin. Obviously, Sheba was
suffering from serious psychological problems. Having felt the sting of racism herself,
Benjamin wondered if this might have played a part in Sheba’s story. Partly as a
tribute to her old friend, Benjamin set out to explore the effects of race in the lives of
bright, well-educated African Americans in the United States. Benjamin knew she was
calling into question the common belief that race is less of a barrier than it used to be,
especially to talented African Americans (W. J. Wilson, 1978). But her own
experiences—and Sheba’s too, she believed— seemed to contradict such thinking.
To test her ideas, Benjamin spent the next two years asking 100 successful African
Americans across the country how race affected their lives. In the words of these
“Talented One Hundred”1 men and women, she found evidence that even among
privileged African Americans, racism remains a heavy burden.

Reflection questions

1. What is the true answer in Benjamin’s research? How this relates to

sociology? (Câu trả lời xác thực từ cuộc nghiên cứu của Benjamin là gì?
Kết quả này gắn với XHH như thế nào?)
2. If the answer is “Some classmates wondered if she was suffering from a
personality disorder”, how do you think this problem should be a subject
of which social science? Nếu như kết quả là “cô Sheba không thành
công trong sự nghiệp là do bị triệu chứng rối loạn nhân cách”, theo các
bạn đây là đối tượng nghiên cứu của ngành nào?