White People At The Beginning Of The 17th Century

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 black slaves resisted and tried to run away they wouldn’t give up. Even though there was laws in trying to stop the blacks from running away, they still ran away. There were laws made that if anyone were to find black slave they should do to them what they feel be appropriate. Man slaves were killed or burnt in the book there was a case were a black slave was burnt in a slow fire for 8-10 hours. In some cases both white and black slaves ran way together but the punishment wouldn’t be the same white would only extend there period of serving as slaves and the black salves were hanged or killed. Even then they could see racism how the whites that committed the same crime would get treated differently then the black slaves. The black salves couldn’t do anything besides being slaves, so thought the white people. Even the white servants were treated different, not only were they working for a set period of time, but they were treated as humans and they had rights, and would receive land and pay at the end of their term. The white people justified their own slave trade because in Africa slavery existed too. This was

The Bible’s verses concerning slavery contradict other verses in several places when discussing slavery and the treatment of slaves. Ephesians 6:5-9 instructs masters to “give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Galatians 3:28 states that “[T]here is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Again, the Bible illustrates that slaves were equal to all others, stating “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, … whether we be bond of free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” Abolitionists undoubtedly used these quotes in order to put an end to slavery.

Many people believe that Christians played a great role in abolishing slavery. However, Douglass’ ideas about religion and its connection to slavery shine a light on the dark side of Christianity. Douglass’ account of his own life is a very eloquent first hand retelling of the suffering and cruelty that many slaves were going through. His account gives a detail of the ills that were committed against the slaves. The atrocities committed by the various different masters varied in intensity depending on the masters’ individual personality (Glancy 42). This first hand narrative gives us a glimpse in to the connection between religion (Christianity) and slavery.

According to Barbara Fields “Euro-Americans resolved the contraction between slavery and liberty by defining Afro-Americans as a race...” (Fields 114). Even though, Jordan has a strong argument about slavery and racist ideology; Fields complicates this when introduce new ideas of racist cause by salve. In Fields’s research, she gathers information and proves to us how slavery was the cause of discrimination by race. She starts us off with an example, about a man who lost his job when he made a joke about racism (Fields 95). In her research, she argues that segregation started when laws were made about servants and slave interaction (Fields 98). She points out how race and slavery soon became hereditary. “After the boom had passed the landowners began buying slaves in large numbers…” this was when slavery importation increased rapidly (Fields 102). As time went by the Europeans found a way to keep slavery going on by giving more freedom to the servants and less to the slave. Race ideology began to grow as more servants gained freedom and purchased slaves to work for them. In all race discrimination grew as different generations grew within the windows of the new law. She ends her research with an example of a woman and a son; it’s about a son who called a friend black, but the mother laughed and said: “No; he’s brown”. Fields then explain how the son’s youth and innocence was soon corrupted. In the end, she came to the

The thesis of the book is that segregation of black and whites was developed later in life than it did when slavery was just introduce. In the earlier years blacks and white would live within the same residence and or property, sharing the same premises if not equal facilities. The black and white would attend the same church and sit in the pews. As life progress and economics and Political conflicts took place that’s when the segregation began.

How race determined who was in and who was out. As Dickerson states “if race is real and not just a method for the haves to decide who will be have-nots, then all Europeans immigrants, from Ireland a to Greece, would have been “white” the moment they arrived here. Instead, as documented in David Roediger’s excellent Working Towards Whiteness, they were long considered inferior, nearly subhuman, and certainly not white” (69). This shows how race wasn’t about common culture or history but a concept to decide what race is good enough to be consider “white” or better than others. Even though the Europeans where the same race or color of the other people who considered themselves Americans or “white” they were still discriminated for being different and immigrants like everybody else. But soon they realized that identifying them self as being white gave them some sort of hierarchy. It gave them more class compared to the other races. As Debra Dickerson said, “If you were neither black nor Asian nor Hispanic, eventually you could become white, invested with enforceable civil rights and the right to exploit-and hate-nonwhites” (69). Being identify as white gave the power to have privileges that non-whites will never have since they are not the same color. Non- whites are treated unfairly compared to the white people in many ways. Discrimination not only took place between people of different races but

To even justify his cruel actions against his slaves, he quoted “He that knoweth his master’s will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes.” (Douglass, 48) According to Douglass, the slave masters that made profession of religion were the worst. Douglass discussed the differences he realized between the Christianity of Christ versus the Christianity of this land. The slave owners’ Christianity of this land believed they had “God-given” rights to have and mistreat the slaves. “That religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, - a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, - a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, - and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection,” (Douglas, 67) In the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Mark Twain wasn’t aware of the severity of slavery. He said, “…I had no aversion to slavery. I was not aware that there was anything wrong about it. No one arraigned it in my hearing; the local papers said nothing against it; the local pulpit taught us that God approved it, that it was a holy thing, and that the doubter need only look in the Bible if he wished to settle his mind – and then the texts were read aloud to us to make the matter sure…” (Twain,

White over Black: American attitudes toward Negro 1550-1812 is a book written by Winthrop D. Jordan, who was a historian in the subject of the history of slavery in the Americas.

in the book and read the book("Fires of Jubilee").The slave masters were astonished because none

This was a really bad excuse to condone slavery. Just because a person has different colored skin does not mean that he is not human. If you look inside of a white or black man they will be the same. To say that they are different is just people making things up. That is like if you were to see anybody of any other race than yours as not human.

In many occassions people have used the Bible as a support for slavery. Slavery refers to individuals that are owned by others, whom have full control of their excistance. As time passed by, slavery developed and was the cause of many conflicts. In the movie "Twelve Years of Slave" we can see how slavery builds the inferno everyone burns. In an analysis of the movie for Commmonweal magazine, Richard Alleva said," To suggest that slave owners suffered as much as slaves would be obscene." In the other hand, Frederick Douglass wrote, "Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me." Douglass knows what it is to be a slave, and that is the reason why his statement can never be wrong. In his Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, he proves that there is nothing inferior about slaves, and that is why slavery is just an injustice for the world since it ruins its people. He knows the damage is for both, slaves and slave owners.

Yes, those were divisive times. But the seeds of division are not planted by those of us who seek to eliminate racial and ethnic preferences; they are planted by those who believe that our skin color and gender and how we spell our last names should entitle us to the harvest of diversity ― college admission, government employment, and contracts. (Connerly 5)

The topic that I chose is racism. Racism is a part of the human society that has been around since the early 1600’s as stated in http://socialistworker.org/2010/10/21/the-roots-of-racism although it was also around since the 1400’s but not as much as in the 1600’s. A fact that backs this up is from a website http://www.brycchancarey.com/slavery/chrono2.htm where it explained “Slavery had existed in Europe from Classical times and did not disappear with the collapse of the Roman Empire. Slaves remained common in Europe throughout the early medieval period. However, slavery of the Classical type became increasingly uncommon in Northern Europe and, by the 11th and 12th centuries, had been effectively abolished in the North” This explains how racism begun and how it manifest.

Did race prejudice cause slavery? Or was it the other way round? Winthrop D. Jordan, in his monumental study of white American attitudes to black people from 1550 to 1812, argues that prejudice and slavery may well have been equally cause and effect, 'dynamically joining hands to hustle the Negro down the road to complete degradation. But we must go deeper than that, if we are to understand the rise of English racism as an ideology, the various roles it has played in the past, and the role it is playing today. And first we must distinguish between race prejudice and racism Sudden or limited contact between different nations or ethnic groups gives rise, as a rule, to all kinds of popular beliefs.