Roland G. Fryer, Jr.

Who is Roland G. Fryer, Jr.?

Roland Gerhard Fryer, Jr. is an American economist and the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

He also maintains offices at the National Bureau of Economic Research and W. E. B. Du Bois Institute. In January 2008, at age 30, he became the youngest African-American to ever receive tenure at Harvard. He was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow. Fryer is widely regarded to be one of black America and Harvard's rising stars, having published numerous economics-related papers in prominent academic journals over the past few years. The New York Times ran an extensive profile of Fryer, entitled "Toward a Unified Theory of Black America," in March 2005 that dealt extensively with Fryer's rough upbringing: Fryer's mother left when he was very young, and his father, who beat his son, was convicted of rape, effectively leaving Fryer to fend for himself. Fryer became a "full fledged gangster by his teens".

Fryer grew up in Lewisville, Texas, where he had moved with his abusive father at the age of 4. Attending Lewisville High School, he starred in football and basketball, earning him an athletic scholarship from the University of Texas at Arlington.