Drake, St. Clair

Drake, (John Gibbs) St. Clair

(1911–90) sociologist, cultural anthropologist; born in Suffolk, Va. Son of a West Indian immigrant who became a Baptist preacher, he graduated from Hampton Institute in 1931 and participated in Quaker peace and racial justice campaigns as a young man. With Horace Cayton, he coauthored Black Metropolis (1946), a landmark study of Chicago's south side ghetto. He taught at Dillard, Roosevelt, and Stanford Universities, advised leaders of newly independent African nations, and helped develop training programs for Africa-bound Peace Corps volunteers.