Redefining Race From White Supremacy To Civil Rights In The U S 1915 1955

Most of these essays were originally presented at a conference in Madison, Wisconsin, November 1989. Two contributions giving historical perspective lead off: a personal memoir and discussion of the significance for America and the world of black protest. Fourteen contributions follow, on the legal struggle, the persistence of discrimination, and perspectives on the past and future. Paper edition (unseen), $17.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

As the possibilities of the 21st century appear on the horizon, it seems an appropriate time to look back on and critically analyze the past century which also began with reflection and expectations. Although many people in the United States are sure that "as far as race relations go, things have gotten better," a closer look at examples of material and popular culture from either end of the 20th century illustrates that "things have stayed very much the same." Some people speak about the shift from earlier blatant to overt forms of racism which might seem to imply that things have gotten better. Instead, It exists a subtle, covert, and possibly more insidious brand of racism [that surfaced and created] what has been referred to as America's 'second reconstruction.' The 'new racism' began to emerge in the late 1970s and solidified in the Reagan era. It has taken the form of social and public policies, sanctioned by the courts and America's political elites. The resulting budget cuts in public education, housing, medical care, and other services that assist the poor ensure that black and Hispanic people remain the poorest Americans. Historically, African Americans consistently remained at the bottom of the social hierarchy, as some immigrants managed to rise to higher levels. Now, new immigration laws prevent "third world" minorities, and particularly "Hispanic" people from becoming a part of the "American Dream." This more subtle and "new racism" is in reaction to and follows the "racial progress" of the heightened civil rights and black power movements during the 1960s and1970s when black Americans organized nationally and took to the streets to protest racism and oppression. African American's demands for political and social change pushed politicians to begin dismantling the obvious signs of racism. Laws that legislated segregation based on race in education, housing, employment, and suffrage were slowly repealed. At the beginning of this century, the discipline of anthropology, the "science" of eugenics, and the ideas of social Darwinism continued to build on earlier assumptions and capture the imagination of many people. The relationship between these abstract arguments and concrete culture has maintained a perpetual and vicious cycle, even with a few sporadic doses of antidote. It is important to point out that the negative effect of the white supremacy myth impacts African Americans and Africans in very real ways, and that without social action the mere discussion of racism is ineffective. This book aims to provide history and context to convince readers to take action and become more vigilant in critiquing the barrage of images and words that influence us every day. The first section provides a broad history of the complex development of ideas and belief systems that form the foundation of racist ideology. In the following two sections, I discuss the background of some stereotypes of Africans and African Americans. The stereotypes of African Americans that are used to symbolically reconstruct segregation and maintain popular opinion have their origins in the images and ideas that first deemed Africans inferior. These ideas are disseminated through images and technologies that allow information to double backward and forwards, and even form new versions of itself. As in earlier eras, stereotypes of Africans and African Americans are often not separated, and they actually target all "black people."

Racism is an issue that is older than the United States itself. Before the 13 colonies became united, there was a wide chasm between the races. From the very beginning, Whites primarily have been treated better than Blacks, strictly because of the color of their skin. Most, if not all, of our founding fathers owned slaves, and it was an accepted practice. Even after the end of the Civil War, which ended slavery strictly from a legal standpoint, Blacks had a difficult time finding opportunity to improve their status. Although Blacks no longer could be owned, for the most part they had no education or marketable skills. The only thing they knew was how to pick cotton and work menial jobs. Whites had little interest in relinquishing their superior status, and Blacks had no recourse. Within a couple of decades after the Civil War, legislation was passed that made the common attitude of White superiority legally accepted. Treating Blacks as less than human was accepted and expected. The problem was worse in the former slave states in the South, but pigmentation often was the most determining factor regarding opportunity for a vast majority of Americans. The Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1900s helped make great progress, including fully giving Blacks the right to vote in 1965, but the problems were not solved. If anything, the attitudes that created the divide became even more entrenched. This is not just a history lesson. Racism still exists today. You can't turn on the news without seeing stories of racial turmoil, most often in our inner-cities. It might be better than it was 350 years ago. It might be better than it was 150 years ago. It might even be better than it was 50 years ago. But it's still very real. It's not a skin-color issue. It's not an economic issue. It's not a geographic issue. A lot of those things may enter into the equation, but they're not the root of the problem. The urban versus suburban divide may be caused by racism, but it doesn't cause r

"What is the state of the field of immigration and ethnic history; what have scholars learned about previous immigration waves; and where is the field heading? These are the main questions as historians, linguists, sociologists, and political scientists in this book look at past and contemporary immigration and ethnicity"--Provided by publisher.

This book explores the racial rules that are often hidden but perpetuate vast racial inequities in the United States.

The Racial Contract puts classic Western social contract theory, deadpan, to extraordinary radical use. With a sweeping look at the European expansionism and racism of the last five hundred years, Charles W. Mills demonstrates how this peculiar and unacknowledged "contract" has shaped a system of global European domination: how it brings into existence "whites" and "non-whites," full persons and sub-persons, how it influences white moral theory and moral psychology; and how this system is imposed on non-whites through ideological conditioning and violence. The Racial Contract argues that the society we live in is a continuing white supremacist state. As this 25th anniversary edition—featuring a foreword by Tommy Shelbie and a new preface by the author—makes clear, the still-urgent The Racial Contract continues to inspire, provoke, and influence thinking about the intersection of the racist underpinnings of political philosophy.

From one of our most important scholars and civil rights activist icon, a powerful study of the women’s liberation movement and the tangled knot of oppression facing Black women. “Angela Davis is herself a woman of undeniable courage. She should be heard.”—The New York Times Angela Davis provides a powerful history of the social and political influence of whiteness and elitism in feminism, from abolitionist days to the present, and demonstrates how the racist and classist biases of its leaders inevitably hampered any collective ambitions. While Black women were aided by some activists like Sarah and Angelina Grimke and the suffrage cause found unwavering support in Frederick Douglass, many women played on the fears of white supremacists for political gain rather than take an intersectional approach to liberation. Here, Davis not only contextualizes the legacy and pitfalls of civil and women’s rights activists, but also discusses Communist women, the murder of Emmitt Till, and Margaret Sanger’s racism. Davis shows readers how the inequalities between Black and white women influence the contemporary issues of rape, reproductive freedom, housework and child care in this bold and indispensable work.