Racial Tension

Throughout Ragtime, racial tension creates enormous riffs between characters. Whether it is an issue of black and white or Eskimo and American, gaps between racial stereotypes cause conflicts. For Coalhouse Walker, the racial stereotype of the poor black man creates a negative impression for the many white men that he comes across. The negative feelings reach a climax during the incident with the firemen when, upon seeing his clearly stable socioeconomic status, working class whites harass the accomplished black man. As Walker drives towards the city, he is stopped and told, “He was traveling on a private toll road and that he could not drive on without payment of twenty-five dollars”(175). Through the men’s tone, it is clear that the road is not actually a toll road, as confirmed when Coalhouse tells the men of all the times when he had traveled the length of the road without being forced to pay. Their patronizing diction makes their views towards black men clear, as though Coalhouse is not intelligent enough to know that the toll was not actually in place. The attitude of white men towards the success of black men goes back to before the emancipation of slaves, when the Free Soil Party was founded and the “slave power conspiracy” of a workforce consisting only of blacks was alive and well. The Party was pro-emancipation, but not because they supported the rights of black slaves. Instead, they wished to provide more paying jobs for white people that were struggling to make a living. This attitude is paralleled by the jealous reaction of the firefighters when they see that Coalhouse Walker must have a reasonable amount of money, because he drives a Model T Ford.

By Marly Morgus

Free-Soil Party. "Free-Soil Party Convention Report." American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
ItemID=WE52&iPin=E14466&SingleRecord=True (accessed May 11, 2011).

Friedline, Richard L. "Free-Soil Party." In Rohrbough, Malcolm J., and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: Expansion and Reform, 1813 to 1855, Revised Edition (Volume IV). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?
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Model T. N.d. Unique Cars and Parts USA. Web. 11 May 2011.
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