CHAPTER O

NE: THE

ORIGIN

OF

THE ID

EA OF

RACE

B Y TA

NYA

MA

RI A

GO

L AS

H- B

OZ

A

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KEY IDEA: RACE AN IDEA THAT WAS CREATED NOT DISCOVERED

Race is an idea that has not always existed in human cultures.

(pp. 7-9)

Race is a creation that some take for granted as biologically real but is only socially real. (p. 6)

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RACE AND RACISM

Race – a social construction to describe a group of people who share physical and cultural traits as well as a common ancestry.

Racism – (1) the belief that races are populations of people whose physical differences are linked to significant cultural and social differences and that these innate hierarchical differences can be measured and judged. (2) the practice of subordinating races believed to be inferior

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COLONIALISM

Colonialism – the practice of acquiring political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.

How does this relate to racism?

4

KEY IDEA: RACE WAS INVENTED FROM SEVERAL HISTORICAL INFLUENCES

“Ancient peoples did not divide the world into

distinct races based on their physical and

cultural traits.” (p. 7)

The idea of race developed in stages across time and is still developing.

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KEY IDEA: RACE WAS INVENTED FROM SEVERAL HISTORICAL INFLUENCES

Purity of blood idea during the Spanish Inquisition and the mistreatment of Muslim and Jewish peoples

Conquistadores

Treatment of Irish by the English

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KEY IDEA: RACE WAS INVENTED FROM SEVERAL HISTORICAL INFLUENCES

English superiority brought to the Americas in mid 1600s

Slavery based on skin color and place of origin

Colonization of the Americas

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“Our contemporary racial worldview is a relic of the systems of human classification that were first used in the context of the colonization of American Indian territories and the enslavement of Africans in the Americas.” (p. 22)

8

THE IDEA OF RACE DEVELOPING THROUGH LAWS

State slave codes legislated in the 1660s:

• Clearly differentiated between African descended people and English who were indentured servants

9

SLAVE CODES

• Refused freedom to African descent people who were enslaved and became Christians in Virginia because they had a “heathen” origin (a 1667 law)

• Outlawed the freeing of slaves & coalitions between poor whites and blacks, created slavery for life, and prevented interracial marriages (in Virginia and Maryland)

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SLAVERY AND RACE

These laws were put in place to create a class of people that would be a work force. Laws kept blacks separate from other groups like indentured servants or poor whites to prevent them from uprising against the elite classes. Such a revolt based on cross-group coalition happened with Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.

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SLAVERY AND RACE

The idea of freedom that was part of the motivation for the American Revolution and incorporated into the U.S. Constitution coexisted in contradiction with the institution of slavery.

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PHILOSOPHY OF RACE DEVELOPS IN STEPS

Biblical ideasPseudoscience typologies Eighteenth century scientific

racismManifest Destiny

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BIBLICAL IDEAS

Europeans first explained the origins of “new” groups of people using the Bible.

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PSEUDOSCIENCE TYPOLOGIES

Classification systems used for plants and animals were applied to people.

• Linnaeus, four races, whites had best qualities• Blumenbach, five races, whites had best

qualities• Hume – surprise! whites only ‘species’ to

create civilized nations!• In other words, idea of race initiated by

European men and justified European superiority

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EIGHTEENTH CENTURY SCIENTIFIC RACISM

Scientific Racism—when allegedly scientific principles and methods were used to prove the existence and qualities of races.

• Lots of European guys subscribed to this notion:

• de Gobineau• Spencer• Morton• Broca

16

Illustration from Josiah Clark Nott andGeorge Robins Gliddon’s IndigenousRaces of the Earth (1857), showingperceived distinctions between the whiteman, the black man, and the chimpanzee.

p. 25: from Indigenous Races of the Earth17

MANIFEST DESTINY IDEOLOGY

Manifest Destiny—an idea that stated that the expansion of whites across the United States was inevitable and meant to be

This ideology was used by white leaders to excuse the forced or coerced removal of multiple native communities from their homelands.

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RACE MATTERS

The black unemployment rate has consistently been twice as high as the white unemployment rate for 50 years:

19

RACE MATTERS

For the past fifty years, Black unemployment has been at almost recession levels.

20

GAP IN HOUSEHOLD INCOME HASN’T REALLY NARROWED IN 50 YEARS

21

GREAT RECESSION MADE THE GAP WORSE:

22

BLACK CHILDREN ARE FAR MORE LIKELY TO LIVE IN CONCENTRATED AREAS OF POVERTY

23

DESEGREGATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS HALTED IN 1980

24

BLACKS ARE FAR MORE LIKELY TO BE UNINSURED THAN WHITES

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CONCLUSION

Understanding race for how it is socially and historically constructed may be a new idea for many.

This provides the foundation for other chapters that explain how race and racism can permeate interactions and processes in current day life.

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