Race and the Black Male Subculture

The Lives of Toby Waller

This book is a study of black masculinity in the twenty-first century. Through a series of critical and interdisciplinary essays, this work examines the image of the black male in American society as a Toby Waller stereotype.  Toby Waller is the fictional, yet symbolic character from Alex Haley’s highly acclaimed book and mini-series, Roots.  It is a richly detailed, fictional story about slavery and one enslaved African man’s struggle to regain freedom.  The parallel of the life of enslaved Toby Waller is similar to present day black males.  Both are individuals who are often stripped of their cultural identity and exist within an institutional and systemic framework that devalues black male life.  This dichotomy is the historical platform to discuss how those in the annals of white America demarcate which embodiment merits inclusion into societal acceptance.