Abeda Haque
10/2/2016
Black History 101: Assessment One (Revision)
Divide and Subjugate based on Race
Race is defined as “the various ways of classifying humans into groups based on physical traits, ancestry, genetics or social group, or on the relations between them.” The origin of the concept of race, its classification of humans, and its ideology based on human differences is not an ancient world construct. Many scholars argue that race was not used historically to subjugate a group of people and that the idea of dividing and subjugating people based on race emerged much later, as we’ll see from the examples of early American history.
During the 17th century, the British colonized the East Coast of North America. One of the first and successful colonies that they set up was the Jamestown colony of Virginia. As the economy of Virginia began to reach its peak the colonist needed more labor to work on the farms. They laid their eyes on Africa and by 1619 the first batch of Africans arrived in Virginia. They were treated as laborers and worked just like other members of society, namely the poor white Europeans. In fact, they were not slaves but indentured servant themselves who lived side by side with other Europeans and their different skin color wasn’t an issue or a barrier.
Jamestown: Slavery, 1619 by Granger
In the mid-17th century in Virginia, a huge transaction took place. As Tobacco business began to grow, the demand for labor increased significantly. The colonist began to import slaves directly from Africa. These Africans, however, were not like those who arrived before. They were treated quite harshly and often penalized. As a result, many of them united with the poor white slaves and began to rebel in the Bacon’s Rebellion of 1676. This was a turning point in American history and a direct threat to the ruling elites. The colonist had to find a solution to this and they did so through racial slavery, by separating Africans and European whites. They began to impose laws and legislations to maintain control over the African slaves and prevent them from fighting. Some of the laws included the prohibition of whites to marry Negros and masters to free their slaves. The colonist began to create a racial identity by homogenizing all Europeans into one category as “white” and a separate category for the Negros as slaves. They gradually separated the two groups and thus imposed a long-lasting slavery on African Americans. They used race as a key to imposing slavery on people – something that was not done before this.
Prior to taking Black Studies 101 and reading about race and racialization I always wondered how did the term race come to exist in American society and why people are divided into different racial groups. It has now become clear to me that it was a systematic way the Europeans subjugated the Africans so they can remain powerful and economically superior.
Although slavery was officially abolished in the 1860s, racial segregation continued in the United States for another hundred years. The effect of this still persists today in one form or another. African Americans face many social and economic challenges because of their race. Many stereotypes were created and African American people are likely to be associated as being “thugs”, “criminals”, and “uneducated”. The recent police brutalities against African American men are directly related to the historical mistreatment of African Americans. So one might ask who benefits from all this? To answer this question I think all you have to look at is the high percentage of African American men in prison and the privatization of prisons. By jailing people, someone out there is making money.
Citations:
Audrey, Smedley. The history of the idea of race…. and why it matters. The American Anthropological Association, 2007.
Audrey, Smedley and Brian D, Smedley. Race as Biology is Fiction, Racism as a social problem is real; Anthropological and Historical perspective on the Social Construction of Race. American Psychologist Article. Jan 2005, Vol 60 Issue 1, p16-26.
Race (Human Categorization): Definition of race in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_ (human_categorization)
Photo: By Granger
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/2-jamestown-slavery-1619-granger.html
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