J.L. Cabell’s A Testimony of Modern Science to the Unity of Mankind and the Human Unity Debate

Even if slavery is not the presiding rule of the land on this planet any longer, segregation based on appearance still exists, just as the "social construction of ‘whiteness’ historically has implied the racial superiority of whites", and prompted the "separate but equal" doctrines of the late nineteenth century (Rundblad & Kivisto xxxi).

The purpose of the article” Shades of Difference: theoretical Underpinnings of the Medical Controversy on Black-White Differences in the United States, 1830-1870”, was to show a difference between beliefs and sound theory’s that are based on medical debates on slavery, racial differences and disease, and black inferiority. Throughout the article conflicting doctors raised the same scientific findings but let their predisposed assumptions, reach biased conclusions. From 1830 to 1850, doctors argued the legitimacy and clarification of their conclusions.

In the PBS documentary, we learned that that race and freedom were developed together. Historian Robin D.G. Kelley points out a problem our founding fathers faced: “how can we promote liberty, freedom, democracy on the one hand, and a system of slavery and exploitation of peoples who are non-white on the other?” (1:04:43). Our past presidents rationalized this contradiction by declaring that blacks and other races had a natural inferiority to whites. Such reasons were used to justify America’s political goals for power and money that benefit the white society at the expense of others. Omi and Winant claim that “the introduction of slavery… presupposed a worldview which distinguished [whites] from ‘others’.. . to explain why some should be ‘free’ and others enslaved, why some had rights to land and property while others did not” (1). The enslavement of Africans led to the ideology of white supremacy which builds up a political system that privileges white people over “others”. Granting opportunities only to whites widens the social difference along racial lines. This historical attitude toward racial difference has determined the way most of us currently view the world.

In 1928 Ulrich B. Phillips wrote an argumentative essay about the reasons for the massive support that slavery received from both slaveowners and Southerners who didn’t possess slaves. The essay was well-received and supported by critics in the 1930-s. However, closer to 1950-s critics started doubting the objectivity of Phillip’s writing. It’s important to note that Ulrich B. Phillips is a white historian from the South, writing from a perspective of a white Southerner. When he was writing his article he failed to step back from his bias and provide fully objective support for the main theme of his argument, setting a doubt to the reliability of his work.

“All men are created equal”, though this would be a fact of the Western World society today, it was certainly not always that way. With the beginning of slavery in the 1600s, to becoming the main cause of the Civil War and abolishment of it, here is slavery; from the Union’s point of view.

The idea of race suggests that observed differences in cultural and social status are the product of biologically based differences among major ethnic groups. Out of that distinction the idea of racial superiority was evolved. In the majority of the population’s eyes at that time, the African race was inferior. They were seen as primitive and un-evolved. This was also another justification for the white populations, to both the governments, to uphold slavery as it was seen as a part of nature, and it also justified the idea to themselves. It was an excuse and a rationalisation for their actions, and an explanation to their own morals and Christian values.

In this debate, the discussion will surround whether or not slavery destroyed the Black family. A family is a social unit living together and people descended from a common ancestor. The debate focuses on Wilma A. Dunaway who posits that slavery did destroy the Black family, and her opponent, Eugene D. Genovese, who says that slavery did not destroy the Black family. By analyzing Dunway, Genovese, and a host of other writers I have gather my own ideas for one side to agree with.

It is not easy, and it is unpleasant, to adduce statistics evidencing the cultural superiority of White over Negro: but it is a fact that obtrudes, one that cannot be hidden by ever-so-busy egalitarians and anthropologists.”(4)

The North viewed every soul as equal while the South believed that white men were created superior to all blacks, no matter the historical background of the person or the reputation he carries. In the Declaration of Independence created when the United States was born, one of the most important line states that, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Because the Declaration of Independence does not specify that only white men are created equal, the inference can be made that men of all races are automatically given the same rights, opportunities, and the unalienable rights. While the North adheres to this quote set forth by the founding fathers of America, the South clearly rejects men’s equality as proven in Stephen’s Cornerstone Speech. In the speech, the south would consider any argument the North makes regarding equality if, and only if, “the negro is equal.” Directly subsequent to this claim, the South counters any arguments by mentioning that the premise in which abolitionists base their philosophy is fallacious, which translates to ‘Blacks are created inferior to whites, so any argument regarding whites’ and blacks’ equality is automatically deemed invalid.’ This adamant mindset that Southern

Since the 1800’s, the human race has progressed exceedingly in almost all aspects may it be in our sciences,humanities, and even the arts. One thing that remains, however, is racism. The argument that one “race” is greater or lesser than another, is at its core, wrong. From the beginning of civilization this idea of unequality has found its’ niche amongst those who garner, and employ the feelings of hatred and hostility. These feelings continue to wreak havoc in today's society, and are just as prevalent as they were during the civil war and beyond. It is even possible that they shall still remain until the end of time. One man in particular whom I feel did not harbor such monstrous feelings is Abraham Lincoln.

This tolerant attitude led to a wide range of “race classification.” According to how much “white” a slave had, their value in the eyes of society increased. Slaves could be black, octaroon or mulatto to name a few. Thus this led to a classification based on one’s degree of white blood. In the United States no such classes existed. If a slave was born to a black mother, that slave was black. In essence, Latin America judged based upon the degree of “blackness” while the South saw only two races, black or white. Outward appearance, the color of the father or anything else deviated the classification in the United States. It has been said, half-facetiously, that Southerners are color blind, in the sense that individuals, despite their racial composition, are considered to be either white or black, while Latin Americans recognized degrees of blackness and whiteness.

During the Era of the Slave Codes, we realize that most of the laws set in place have been established by an overwhelming sense of fear or danger, in relation to how specific people look and behave. The rules that were set in place to prevent slave rebellions and other racial problems in the colonies was known as the “Slave Codes.” The slave codes reflect the growing ethnic order and development of fear of slave communities by creating a division of humanity based on skin color, which enforced through multiple laws that were established by the colonies themselves, in each respective area. Before the slave codes were developed, there was a growing population of Africans in the Colonies, due to both importation and reproduction or already existing

In The Racial Contract (1997) Charles W. Mills asserted that racism and white supremacy have been the real basis for the social, political and economic that has existed in the world over the last 400 years rather than the ideas of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, Jean Jacques Rousseau or even Thomas Hobbes. Few blacks have ever been social or political philosophers, and this fact alone explains why these disciplines tend to ignore racism, colonialism, slavery, genocide and segregation far more than history or political science. This Racial Contract is political, moral and economic in that it assumes that nonwhites are naturally inferior in all of these categories, and were even when they were living in a state of nature in Africa and the Americas. Contemporary social contract theories like John Rawls use this theory as a metaphor or normative standard, although Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau that state of nature was literally true. Indeed they believed it was historically valid because they could observe societies in their own time that they considered to be in a state of nature, such as those of the Native Americans and Pacific islanders. They had very different views about how human beings behaved in this condition, with Hobbes being the most pessimistic. He would have agreed with Mills that all human beings were equal in the state of nature, but all equally bad greedy, violent, vengeful and brutal. As described in Leviathan, though, this was a universal trait of humanity, not a

Although slavery and segregation laws are obsolete, racial inequality remains visible within our society. Throughout the course readings, one thing is for sure: the slave trade is the primary cause of racial inequality from 1500 to the present. Those sold into slavery become the property and a product of violence. Moreover, throughout the 15th to mid-18th centuries, slavery caused people to despise those who looked different from them, based on skin color. Slavery has caused numerous gaps among the privileged white community and minorities who have a history of slavery. This created a divided society based on skin color, with effects that continue to be a small part of our contemporary world.

The exploitation of Black labor was accomplished by treating Black people as objects of property, thus, race and property were conflated by establishing a form of property contingent on race only. Id. at 1716. Similarly, the conquest, removal, and extermination of Native American life and culture were ratified by conferring and acknowledging the property rights of whites in Native American land. Id. Only white possession and occupation of land was validated and therefore privileged as a basis for property rights. Id. Slavery as a system of property facilitated the merger of white identity and property. Id. at 1721. Because the system of slavery was contingent on and conflated with racial identity, it became crucial to be "white," to be identified as white, to have the property of being white. Id.Whiteness was the characteristic, the attribute, the property of free