An American Dilemma

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An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy is a 1944 study by Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. They chose a non-American writer hoping for an unbiased view. The nearly 1,500-page work examines the obstacles Black Americans faced in the United States during the 1940s. The project’s initial research was led by Ralph Bunche, the American political scientist and diplomat who would later win a Nobel Prize.

The book presents a central idea: the United States is built on an “American Creed”—the ideals of equality, civil liberties, and opportunity. Myrdal argued that this creed kept the country together even as many Americans believed in democracy while denying full rights to Black citizens. He described a vicious cycle in which White prejudice worsened conditions for Black people (education, health, morality, and social status), which in turn justified further prejudice. The way out, he said, was to either reduce White prejudice to improve Black lives or improve Black conditions to reduce prejudice—what he called the “principle of cumulation.” The work also framed the “Negro problem” as a white problem, arguing that Whites as a group bore responsibility for the disadvantages faced by Black Americans.

Myrdal’s study was influential. It was widely read, selling more than 100,000 copies and going through many printings, with a second edition published in 1965. It helped shape late-1940s and 1950s debates about race and laid groundwork for later policies of integration and affirmative action. The book is noted for emphasizing the role of the American Creed in guiding social and political life and for highlighting how public opinion and press coverage could affect civil rights progress.

Reception was mixed. Some contemporaries praised it as an outstanding, provocative social science work. Others were more critical: the Florida Supreme Court later ridiculed the book when Brown v. Board of Education cited it, and critics like Herbert Aptheker challenged its factual and philosophical claims. Nevertheless, many scholars and activists cited its importance in arguing that public and legal discourse was needed to address racial inequality, even if the specifics of Myrdal’s arguments were debated.