Background
Williams, Vernon J. was born on April 25, 1948 in Marshall, Texas, United States. Son of Vernon J. Senior and Vella D. (Roland) Williams.
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book
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES & THEORIES OF RACE
(Vernon J. Williams Jr.'s "The Social Sciences and Theorie...)
Vernon J. Williams Jr.'s "The Social Sciences and Theories of Race" focuses on anthropology and sociology's engagement with some of the U.S.'s most enduring problems: race and race relations. In discussing the work of key scholars (both black and white) on race and culture, including Franz Boas, George W. Ellis, Booker T. Washington, Ulysses G. Wetherley, and Monroe N. Work, Williams demonstrates the dynamic nature of their ideas and reveals the social, cultural, and intellectual forces that influenced their supposedly value-neutral scientific thinking. The evolution of their work is outlined through expert use of a variety of tools from social, cultural, and intellectual history, as well as biography and autobiography. Williams shows that ethnicity, and a range of social and political pressures had important impacts on the developing fields of both sociology and anthropology, and he demonstrates that those working in the social sciences can improve their own analyses by understanding the mentality of the observer whose work they're evaluating.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0252073207/?tag=2022091-20
Rethinking Race: Franz Boas and His Contemporaries
(In this thought-provoking reexamination of the history of...)
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 prevailed in the American social sciences. Williams reconsiders the standard portrait of Boas and offers a new understanding of a man who never fully escaped the racist assumptions of 19th-century anthropology but nevertheless successfully argued that African Americans could assimiliate into American society and that the chief obstacle facing them was not heredity but the prejudice of white America.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081310873X/?tag=2022091-20
From a Caste to a Minority: Changing Attitudes of American Sociologists Toward Afro-Americans, 1896-1945 (Contributions in Political Science)
( From a Caste to a Minority explores the complex and cha...)
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 American sociological theory since 1896. Despite a capitulation to the forces of racism and reaction before 1911, sociologists eventually developed their discipline into one of the most forward-looking of all the social sciences. Presented in a highly readable, narrative format, the book demonstrates the impact of black sociological thought and discusses the role played by amateur sociology in a discipline increasingly conscious of its professional standing. Changing attitudes toward Afro-Americans against a backdrop of black migration to the North are also explored, thereby linking intellectual and social history. This extensively researched study presents the social scientific discussion of Afro-Americans and race relations from 1896 to 1945 in greater depth than any previous work. It will be a valuable asset to students and scholars of Afro-American history as well as to those interested in the development of the social sciences, and in American intellectual history after 1865.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0313264201/?tag=2022091-20
Vernon J. Williams
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Vernon J. Williams, American Historian, educator, writer. Recipient Grant-in-Aid, American Council of Learned Socs., 1990; Clio grantee Indiana History Society, 1994. Member National Association Ethnic Studies, Organisation American Historians, American Studies Association, Southern History Association, Immigration History Society.
Education
Bachelor in History, University Texas, 1969; Master of Arts in American Civilization, Brown U., 1973; Doctor of Philosophy in American Civilization, Brown U., 1977.
Career
Instructor, U. Rhode Island, Kingstown, 1978;
lecturer, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, 1978-1979;
editor, Edit, Inc., Chicago, 1979-1980;
lecturer, Elmhurst College, Chicago, 1981-1982;
assistant professor, U. Iowa, Iowa City, 1985;
assistant professor, Rhode Island College, Providence, 1985-1990;
lecturer, Boston University, 1989-1990;
associate professor, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1990-1997;
professor, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, since 1997. Research associate William Monroe Trotter Institute, Boston, 1987, Boston University, 1989. Archives consultant Boston Anthenaeum, 1989.
Consultant Henry Rasof Literature Agency, Boston, 1989-1990.
Achievements
Works
book
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From a Caste to a Minority: Changing Attitudes of American Sociologists Toward Afro-Americans, 1896-1945 (Contributions in Political Science)
( From a Caste to a Minority explores the complex and cha...)
-
Rethinking Race: Franz Boas and His Contemporaries
(In this thought-provoking reexamination of the history of...)
-
THE SOCIAL SCIENCES & THEORIES OF RACE
(Vernon J. Williams Jr.'s "The Social Sciences and Theorie...)
-
From a Caste to a Minority: Changing Attitudes of American Sociologists Toward Afro-Americans, 1896-1945 (Contributions in Political Science)
Membership
Member National Association Ethnic Studies, Organisation American Historians, American Studies Association, Southern History Association, Immigration History Society.
Interests
Connections
Children: Vella L., Alexander M.
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Born
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Nationality
American