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Department of History

Dr. Toure Reed

Professor
History
Office
Schroeder Hall - SCH 328
Office Phone
(309) 438-8120office
phone
Email
tfreed@ilstu.eduemail
  • About
  • Education
  • Awards & Honors
  • Research

Biography

Dr. Reed earned his BA in American Studies from Hampshire College (Amherst, MA), and his PhD in History from Columbia University (New York, NY). He is a fourth generation African American educator and third generation professor. Having spent his formative years in South West Atlanta, GA and New Haven, CT, Dr. Reed's research interests center on race, class, and inequality. In addition to being a historian of African American and 20th Century US History, Dr. Reed is a shred guitar enthusiast.

Current Courses

258.001Afro-American History Since 1865

111.001American Diversity: Contested Visions Of The U.S. Experience

499.003Independent Research For The Master's Thesis

287.002Independent Study

291.002Undergraduate Teaching Experience In History

111.001American Diversity: Contested Visions Of The U.S. Experience

258.001Afro-American History Since 1865

499.016Independent Research For The Master's Thesis

287.001Independent Study

287.004Independent Study

400.002Independent Study

490.007Readings -- Field Of Study

497.001Research in History

Teaching Interests & Areas

Professor Reed's courses center on black social, political, and intellectual history. His courses draw from US urban and labor history.

Research Interests & Areas

Professor Reed's research projects focus principally on the impact of race and class ideologies on African American civil rights politics and US public policy from the Progressive Era through the Presidency of Barack Obama. Dr. Reed is the author of Not Alms But Opportunity: The Urban League and the Politics of Racial Uplift, 1910-1950 (UNC Chapel Hill Press, 2008) and Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism (Verso Books, 2020). He is also co-author of Renewing Black Intellectual History: The Ideological and Material Foundations of Black American Thought (Paradigm Publishers, 2009 hardcover, 2010 paperback). Professor Reed's articles have appeared in the Journal of American Ethnic History, LABOR, nonsite.org, Catalyst, Blackagendareport.com, Commondreams.org, Dissent Magazine, Jacobin, the Nation, and The New Republic.

Dr. Reed is currently engaged in research for two monographs. Menace II Equality: How the Entertainment Industry Sold Reaganism to African Americans and New Deal Civil Rights: Class Consciousness and the Quest for Racial Equality, 1933-1948.

Dr. Reed has received numerous grants and fellowships including the prestigious Kluge Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Library of Congress in support of New Deal Civil Rights.

Ph D History

Columbia University
New York, NY

M Phil History

Columbia University
New York, NY

MA History

Columbia University
New York, NY

BA American Studies

Hampshire College
Amherst, MA

Influential and Inspirational Professor

History and Social Sciences Education Program
2023

Distinguished Lecturer

College of Arts and Sciences, Illinois State University
2023

Influential and Inspirational Professor

History-Social Sciences Education Program
2023

Influential and Inspirational Profesor

History-Social Sciences Education Program
2021

Influential and Inspirational Faculty

History-Social Sciences Education Program
2021

Impact Award

Illinois State University, Office of the Provost and University College
2021

Outstanding College Researcher in the Humanities

Illinois State University
2020

Influential and Inspirational Faculty

History-Social Sciences Education Program
2019

Influential and Inspirational Faculty

History Department
2019

Influential and Inspirational Faculty

History Department
2018

Book Review

Joe Trotter, Jr., Pittsburgh and the Urban League Movement: A Century of Social Service and Activism, September 2022, Journal of American History
Keneshia Grant, The Great Migration and the Democratic Party: Black Voters and the Realignment of American Politics in the 20th Century, Spring 2021, Journal of Urban Affairs
Glenn Feldman, ed. Nation within a Nation: The American South and the Federal Government, Spring 2018, Florida Historical Quarterly
Martin Kilson, The Transformation of the African American Intelligentsia, 1880-2012, June 2015, Journal of American History
Erik S. Gellman, Death Blow to Jim Crow: The National Negro Congress, February 2014, Journal of Southern History

Book, Authored

Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism, Verso Books, 2020, (paperback and digital), https://www.versobooks.com/books/3166-toward-freedom
Coauthor/Contributor-- Renewing Black Intellectual History: The Ideological and Material Foundations of African American Thought. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers, 2009 (Paperback 2010), https://www.routledge.com/Renewing-Black-Intellectual-History-The-Ideological-and-Material-Foundations/Reed-Warren/p/book/9781594516665
Not Alms But Opportunity: The Urban League and the Politics of Racial Uplift, 1910-1950. Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2008 (Hardcover/Paperback), https://uncpress.org/book/9780807859025/not-alms-but-opportunity/

Book, Chapter

"Black Exceptionalism and the Militant Capitulation to Economic Inequality," in Cedric Johnson's The Panthers Can't Save Us Now: Debating Left Politics and Black Lives Matter, Verso Books, 2022.
Reprint of “Black Exceptionalism and the Militant
Capitulation to Economic Inequality,” New Politics Vol. 17, No. 2 (Winter 2019)
“The Evolution of ‘Race’ and Racial Justice Under Neoliberalism,” coauthored with Adolph L. Reed, Jr., in Greg Albo, Leo Panitch, and Colin Leys eds. The Socialist Register 2022: New Polarizations, Old Crisis of Centrism. The Crisis Centrism, New York: Monthly Review Press, 2021, pp. 113-134, https://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv
“El excepcionalismo negro y la capitulación militante ante la desigualdad económica,” in Las Panteras Negras Ya No Pueden Salvarnos: Sobre excepcionalismo negro, violencia policial y politicas de la identidad, Libros Corrientes, 2020. Reprint of “Black Exceptionalism and the Militant Capitulation to Economic Inequality,” New Politics Vol. 17, No. 2 (Winter 2019)
“The Educational Alliance and the Urban League of New York: Ethnic Elites and the Politics of Americanization and Racial Uplift, 1903-1931,” 95-125 in Renewing Black Intellectual History: The Ideological and Material Foundations of African American Thought, Paradigm Publishers, 2009

Encyclopedia

“W.E.B. DuBois and the Philadelphia Negro,” in the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies, ed. Anthony Orum, 2019

Journal Article

“Black Exceptionalism and the Militant Capitulation to Economic Inequality,” Symposium on Cedric G. Johnson’s “The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now: Anti-Policing Struggles and the Limits of Black Power,” New Politics, Vo 17, No. 2 (Winter 2019):
8-11, https://newpol.org/authors/rred-toure-f/
“Granger’s ‘Challenge to the Youth,’ Stein’s Challenge to Historians: Industrial
Democracy and the Complexities of Black Politics”
in Symposium in Honor of Judith Stein, nonsite.org, No. 29 (Fall 2019),
https://nonsite.org/grangers-challenge-to-the-youth-steins-challenge-to-historians-industrial-democracy-and-the-complexities-of-black-politics/
“Between Obama and Coates,” Catalyst: A Journal of Theory and Strategy, Vol. 1, No. 4 (Winter 2018): 8-54,
https://catalyst-journal.com/vol1/no4/between-obama-and-coates
“All Roads Named Culture of Poverty Lead to Mass Incarceration,” Symposium on Elizabeth Hinton’s From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime, LABOR: Studies in Working Class History in the Americas. Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 2017): 75-79
“Why Moynihan Was Not So Misunderstood at the Time: The Mythological Prescience
of the Moynihan Report and the Problem of Institutional Structuralism,” in The
Moynihan Report and the Crescent City: Culturalism and Katrina in New Orleans, ed.
Touré F. Reed, nonsite.org No. 17 (Fall 2015),
http://nonsite.org/article/why-moynihan-was-not-so-misunderstood-at-the-time

Magazine/Trade Publication

“Even When They Fail, They Win: Ocean Gate and the Cult of the Super-Wealthy Innovator,” CommonDreams.org, 7/5/23, https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/oceangate-tragedy-super-wealthy
“Why Juneteenth Celebrations Should Acknowledge the 13th Amendment,” CommonDreams.org, 6/20/22, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/06/20/why-juneteenth-celebrations-should-acknowledge-13th-amendment
"Pourquoi il est dangereux de laisser l’artefact de la race supplanter la classe sociale en temps de pandémie." La Pensee 408, no. 4 (2021). Reprint of “The Dangers of Letting Racecraft Displace Class During the Pandemic, JacobinMag.com, 8/13/20
“Pourquoi les libéraux progressistes séparent la race de la classe,” La Pensee, 408, No. 4 (2021). Reprint of “Why Liberals Separate Race from Class,” JacobinMag.com, 8/22/15
“The Political Economy of Racial Inequality,” Dissent Magazine, symposium on race and inequality titled “Arguments on the Left” Summer 2021, https://www.dissentmagazine.org/issue/summer-2021

Presentations

“Is it Race or Racism: Why Binary Explanations for Inequality Have Failed Black Americans,” University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, keynote for the Africana Studies Department’s Research and Discovery Week, 11/7/23 (invited), https://twitter.com/nmhumanitiesnow/status/1721660847058305167
“Is it Race or Racism?: Why Binary Explanations for Inequality Have Failed Black Americans” Illinois College Convocation, 10/16/23 (invited)
“Is it Race or Racism?” Delving Into Race Reductionism vs. Class-First Explanations in Social Phenomena with Professor Touré F. Reed, University of Pennsylvania Philosophy of Race Workshop Group, 10/27/23 (invited)
“Toward Freedom: Discussion with Historian Touré Reed,” Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas (SEIU-IIMK), 2/2/23 (invited), https://twitter.com/SEIUhciimk/status/1620507581767905280/photo/1
“Toward Freedom: The Case Against Race Reductionism,” St. Xavier’s Office of Inclusive Excellence DEI program, 3/29/23 (invited).
Education Week Magazine, Editorial Staff and Journalists “Brown Bag Discussion with Touré Reed,” (invited), 9/9/22
Guest Lecture: “The Problem with Race Reductionism,” Ministry Collaborative Cohort on Race and Economics, (invited), 11/28/22
Guest lecturer Claremont McKenna College, Dr. Michael Fortner’s “Race and Politics” course, (invited) 2/23/22
Panel: “Polarization and Socialism: The Direction Forward,” a discussion of contributions to The Socialist Register 2022: New Polarizations, Old Crisis of Centrism. The Crisis Centrism"
Presentation: “Race and Racial Justice Under Neoliberalism,” by Adolph L. Reed, Jr. and Touré F. Reed, 5/15/22
Roundtable Discussion: “A City by and for the Working Class: Adolph Reed on American Urban Politics,” American Political Science Association, 9/15/22

Grants & Contracts

Kluge Center, Postdoctoral Fellowship. Library of Congress. Federal. (2011)
Kluge Center, Postdoctoral Fellowship. Library of Congress. Federal. (2010)
Summer Faculty Fellowship. Illinois State University. Illinois State University. (2009)
Faculty Research Award. Illinois State University. Illinois State University. (2008)
Provost Incentive Award. Illinois State University. Illinois State University. (2003)