William Toll Race Relations Summary

Race relations have always been an issue in the United States; whether it is among whites and any minority group or two different minority groups. Typically, it is between whites and minorities who are politically defined as being “citizens deprived of their rights and, sociologically, as men and women with aspirations similar to those of white farmers, workers or merchants” (301 Toll). In William Toll’s article, “Rehabilitation and Revitalization: Black Perspectives on Race Relations” he focuses on the relationship between African-Americans and white people. Toll also discusses the leaders of the black community and their ideologies on how to improve race relations throughout the country. Toll divided his article into three parts: general information on race relations, Booker T. Washington’s ideology, and W.E.B. DuBois ideology. Many concepts and studies have been done in order to help understand and define the issue of race relations throughout the history of the United States. During the Race Riots of the 1960s the Koerner Commission introduced the argument that the “rioters were not trying to overthrow the American economic and

Throughout this section, Toll addresses Washington’s approach to this ideology as well how other people criticized his work. The third section revolves around the ideology of cultural revitalization. More specifically, Toll discusses W.E.B. DuBois’ belief that the prejudices from white people were not as important to the relationship between races. Instead the most important part was the revitalization of the black community and being able to associate the community with being dignified (312). Ultimately, there is not one specific ideology that can help race relations. What determines how African-Americans react and respond to white people is who African-Americans perceive themselves to be