In this thought-provoking reexamination of the history of "racial science" Vernon J. Williams argues that all current theories of race and race relations can be understood as extensions of or reactions to the theories formulated during the first half of the twentieth century. Williams explores these theories in a carefully crafted analysis of Franz Boas and his influence upon his contemporaries, especially W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, George W. Ellis, and Robert E. Park. Historians have long recognized the monumental role Franz Boas played in eviscerating the racist worldview that...
In this thought-provoking reexamination of the history of "racial science" Vernon J. Williams argues that all current theories of race and race rel...
"From a Caste to a Minority" explores the complex and changing attitudes held toward blacks by the nation's leading sociologists from 1896 to the end of World War II. It examines how and why sociology transformed itself from a discipline that rationalized caste-like arrangements in the United States to one that actively advocated and supported the full assimilation of Afro-Americans into the American mainstream. The study suggests that the ascendency of assimilationist theory in post-World War II sociology represents the triumph of ideals of black progress and assimilation proposed in...
"From a Caste to a Minority" explores the complex and changing attitudes held toward blacks by the nation's leading sociologists from 1896 to the e...