An Unillustrious Alliance

Are the relationships between minority groups as significant as those between dominant and minority groups? Phillips argues that they are in this innovative analysis of the relationships between the African American and the Jewish American communities during the last one hundred years. In An Unillustrious Alliance the evolved relations between the African American and the Jewish American communities are examined historically and sociologically. The scope of the work is from 1890 through the 1980s, and the materials are organized largely into decadal periods. The key relationships examined are negotiating, bargaining, cooperating, and conflicting.

Two features of Phillips' approach distinguish it from most of the traditional examinations of racial and ethnic or minority group relations. First, there is strict emphasis placed on collective behavior or action. Phillips examines the concerted group actions of these two minority communities for the attainment of their separate as well as their joint purposes. Second, the main concern is the concerted actions or alliances and coalition between two minority communities, not the relationships between a dominant and a subordinate group. Throughout the study implications are drawn for public policy studies as well as for students and scholars of American ethnic and racial studies.

Introduction
The Issues and Approach
The Nadir of Injustice and Inequality, 1890-1919
Between World Wars
Dilemmas of War and Peace, 1940-1953
Schooling and Civil Rights, 1954-1965
The Black Power Movement, 1966-1979
The 1980s
Implications: Policy and Practice
Appendix: Selected Organizations of the Civil Rights Struggle
Appendix
Bibliographic Essay
Index