DOCSLIB.ORG

A Nation Built on the Back of Slavery and Racism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Nation Built on the Back of Slavery and Racism JUST THE FACTS A NATION BUILT ON THE BACK OF SLAVERY Why Reparations? AND RACISM It began with 246 years of legal slavery in which we extracted wealth from the lives of African Americans. At the time of the Civil War, close to 4 million African Americans were enslaved, 13 percent of America’s total population. After the war, institutional injustices focused on stealing their land and jobs and ensuring that African Americans did not build wealth as fast as the rest of Americans. The economy we have today was built on this. PB yes! summer 2015 :: yesmagazine.org yesmagazine.org :: yes! summer 2015 25 The nation paid reparations to slave 1 holders—not to slaves. Slavery launched modern No $300 40 ACRES AND A MULE capitalism and turned PER FREED SLAVE the U.S. into the President Andrew Johnson On April 16, 1862, President wealthiest country overturned Gen. Sherman’s Abraham Lincoln signed a in the world. famous promise, which would bill ending slavery in the have redistributed roughly District of Columbia, 400,000 acres to newly freed providing for compensa- black families. tion to former owners. Slave-harvested cotton dominated the 19th-century international Vagrancy laws allowed market. police to sweep up black men and then rent them U.S. COTTON out as convict labor. PRODUCTION Following the war, 1859 convict leasing programs 2.25 billion shifted the Southern pounds prison populations to predominantly black. BLACK CONVICTS IN NASHVILLE, 1790 1.5 million pounds 2 TENNESSEE’S MAIN PRISON Cotton built New York City U.S. COTTON USED into a commercial and Emancipation IN BRITISH TEXTILE financial center. 58% 64% did not INDUSTRY NEW YORK’S 33% bring economic By the 1830s For every dollar cotton made, SHARE freedom about 40 cents OF ALL 77% ended up in New COTTON 1865 1867 1869 to former REVENUE York as the city slaves. supplied insur- ance, shipping, 40% and financing. Discriminatory business policies kept white people economically ahead. Southern merchants At the outbreak Black Codes were enacted to used unfair credit to impede stop African Americans from of the Civil War, Slaves’ black wealth building. the market worth owning their own businesses. 48% INTEREST RATES value of slaves $3 billion of total in the U.S. BUSINESS LICENSING FEES CHARGED BY MERCHANTS wealth of Under Black Codes in 1870 1881–1889 exceeded that of the South banks, factories, in 1860 and railroads $100 $0 44%–74% combined. Currency in circulation White Georgia $450 million entrepreneurs 7% Black New York City entrepreneurs 2626 yesyes!! summersummer 20152015 :::: yesmagazineyesmagazine..orgorg yesmagazine.org :: yes! summer 2015 27 Social safety nets have missed African Americans. 4 Social Security originally excluded The result: domestic and agricultural work- ers—mostly African Americans, African Americans especially in the South. have not been able INELIGIBLE FOR SOCIAL to get a foothold in SECURITY IN 1935 the economy. 70%–80% 65% 27% Whites Blacks Blacks in the The income gap has not South budged since 1970. Discriminatory For every dollar of assets white policies then kept households have … 3 African Americans MEDIAN $58,ooo HOUSEHOLD from receiving help INCOME $35,ooo other citizens in 2013 Racist policies received. contributed to the Black … black households decline of black have a dime. farmers. White By 1982, only 1.5 percent of farmers were black, and the USDA’s Civil Rights Office — African Americans have barely any of the nation’s wealth, which investigated loan program discrimina- and therefore little to pass down to future generations. tion complaints—was closed. FARMLAND OWNED BY Economists estimate that up to NATIONAL WEALTH AFRICAN AMERICANS 80 percent of lifetime wealth Owned by African Americans accumulation depends on intergenerational transfers. 1910 1982 0.5% 1.o% 15 million 3.1 million 1865, 1990, acres acres just after a full 125 years after Emancipation Emancipation Money meant for distressed Can we calculate the economic damages? homeowners supported segregation. In 1933, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation Estimates range from: Martin Luther King Jr. was created and helped more than 1 million calculated that making homeowners. The HOLC was the origin of $59 trillion good on the promise of “redlining” maps. 40 acres and a mule ($20 a week since the late GOVERNMENT LOANS TO $24 trillion 1700s for 4 million slaves) AVOID FORECLOSURE $15 trillion would total $800 billion.* 0 “They owe us a lot of 1 loans to blacks money.” million * $6.4 trillion loans in white neighborhoods That’s MLK’s $800 billion in today’s dollars. Source citations at yesmagazine.org/JTF74 YES! infographic by Jeff Neumann and Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn. 26 yes! summer 2015 :: yesmagazine.org Research by Heidi Bruce and Clo Copass. Images from Library of Congress. yesmagazineyesmagazine..orgorg :::: yesyes!! summersummer 20152015 2727.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Race and Membership in American History: the Eugenics Movement
    Race and Membership in American History: The Eugenics Movement Facing History and Ourselves National Foundation, Inc. Brookline, Massachusetts Eugenicstextfinal.qxp 11/6/2006 10:05 AM Page 2 For permission to reproduce the following photographs, posters, and charts in this book, grateful acknowledgement is made to the following: Cover: “Mixed Types of Uncivilized Peoples” from Truman State University. (Image #1028 from Cold Spring Harbor Eugenics Archive, http://www.eugenics archive.org/eugenics/). Fitter Family Contest winners, Kansas State Fair, from American Philosophical Society (image #94 at http://www.amphilsoc.org/ library/guides/eugenics.htm). Ellis Island image from the Library of Congress. Petrus Camper’s illustration of “facial angles” from The Works of the Late Professor Camper by Thomas Cogan, M.D., London: Dilly, 1794. Inside: p. 45: The Works of the Late Professor Camper by Thomas Cogan, M.D., London: Dilly, 1794. 51: “Observations on the Size of the Brain in Various Races and Families of Man” by Samuel Morton. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. 4, 1849. 74: The American Philosophical Society. 77: Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, Charles Davenport. New York: Henry Holt &Co., 1911. 99: Special Collections and Preservation Division, Chicago Public Library. 116: The Missouri Historical Society. 119: The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882; John Singer Sargent, American (1856-1925). Oil on canvas; 87 3/8 x 87 5/8 in. (221.9 x 222.6 cm.). Gift of Mary Louisa Boit, Julia Overing Boit, Jane Hubbard Boit, and Florence D. Boit in memory of their father, Edward Darley Boit, 19.124.
    [Show full text]
  • A Partial Historical Timeline of Slavery and Structural Racism in Amherst
    A PARTIAL HISTORICAL TIMELINE OF SLAVERY AND STRUCTURAL RACISM IN AMHERST An appendix in support of A RESOLUTION AFFIRMING THE TOWN OF AMHERST’S COMMITMENT TO END STRUCTURAL RACISM AND ACHIEVE RACIAL EQUITY ____________________________________________________________________________ AUTHORING STATEMENT This timeline represents only a small sampling of Amherst’s history of white supremacy, anti-Black racism, and racial inequity. It was compiled by Reparations for Amherst, with research by Amherst resident Mattea Kramer. Cynthia Harbeson, Jones Library Special Collections, and Aaron Rubinstein, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts, provided research assistance. This document was created in order to prepare and present evidence and factual information related to historic and contemporary instances where the Town of Amherst might have facilitated, participated, stood neutral, or enacted acts of segregative and discriminatory practices in all aspects of engagement with the Amherst Black community. The intention of this report is to compile, in one cohesive document, published facts from various works, studys, surveys, articles, recordings, policies, and resources that are freely available for public consumption. The authors have worked to compile this information and have cited materials in order to assist others in locating the document’s sources. This report is in progress and will have periodical updates when new information presents itself. VERSION UPDATES October7, 2020 Start date November 6, 2020 Review
    [Show full text]
  • Xenophobia: a New Pathology for a New South Africa?
    Xenophobia: A new pathology for a new South Africa? by Bronwyn Harris In Hook, D. & Eagle, G. (eds) Psychopathology and Social Prejudice, pp. 169-184, Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2002. Bronwyn Harris is a former Project Manager at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. Introduction In 1994, South Africa became a new nation. Born out of democratic elections and inaugurated as the 'Rainbow Nation' by Nelson Mandela, this 'new South Africa' represents a fundamental shift in the social, political and geographical landscapes of the past. Unity has replaced segregation, equality has replaced legislated racism and democracy has replaced apartheid, at least in terms of the law. Despite the transition from authoritarian rule to democracy, prejudice and violence continue to mark contemporary South Africa. Indeed, the shift in political power has brought about a range of new discriminatory practices and victims. One such victim is 'The Foreigner'. Emergent alongside a new-nation discourse, The Foreigner stands at a site where identity, racism and violent practice are reproduced. This paper interrogates the high levels of violence that are currently directed at foreigners, particularly African foreigners, in South Africa. It explores the term 'xenophobia' and various hypotheses about its causes. It also explores the ways in which xenophobia itself is depicted in the country. Portrayed as negative, abnormal and the antithesis of a healthy, normally functioning individual or society, xenophobia is read here as a new pathology for a 'new South Africa'. This chapter attempts to deconstruct such a representation by suggesting that xenophobia is implicit to the technologies of nation-building and is part of South Africa's culture of violence.
    [Show full text]
  • A Nation at Risk
    A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform A Report to the Nation and the Secretary of Education United States Department of Education by The National Commission on Excellence in Education April 1983 April 26, 1983 Honorable T. H. Bell Secretary of Education U.S. Department of Education Washington, D.C. 20202 Dear Mr. Secretary: On August 26, 1981, you created the National Commission on Excellence in Education and directed it to present a report on the quality of education in America to you and to the American people by April of 1983. It has been my privilege to chair this endeavor and on behalf of the members of the Commission it is my pleasure to transmit this report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Our purpose has been to help define the problems afflicting American education and to provide solutions, not search for scapegoats. We addressed the main issues as we saw them, but have not attempted to treat the subordinate matters in any detail. We were forthright in our discussions and have been candid in our report regarding both the strengths and weaknesses of American education. The Commission deeply believes that the problems we have discerned in American education can be both understood and corrected if the people of our country, together with those who have public responsibility in the matter, care enough and are courageous enough to do what is required. Each member of the Commission appreciates your leadership in having asked this diverse group of persons to examine one of the central issues which will define our Nation's future.
    [Show full text]
  • Complementary International Standards First Session Geneva, 11-22 February 2008
    UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/AC.1/1/CRP.4 18 February 2008 Original: ENGLISH ONLY HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary International Standards First session Geneva, 11-22 February 2008 COMPLEMENTARY INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS COMPILATION OF CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE STUDY BY THE FIVE EXPERTS ON THE CONTENT AND SCOPE OF SUBSTANTIVE GAPS IN THE EXISTING INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS TO COMBAT RACISM RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE A/HRC/AC.1/1/CRP.4 Page 2 I. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE CONTENT AND SCOPE OF SUBSTANTIVE GAPS ON COMPLEMENTARY INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS WITH REGARD TO POSITIVE OBLIGATIONS OF STATES PARTIES Assessment and recommendations 1. The role of human rights education 29. The DDPA underlines the importance of human rights education as a key to changing attitudes and behaviour and to promoting tolerance and respect for diversity in societies1 and, therefore as crucial in the struggle against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.2 The importance of human rights education is also underlined in several other human rights documents. The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action assert that “human rights education, training and public information are essential for the promotion and achievement of stable and harmonious relations among communities and for fostering mutual understanding, tolerance and peace.”3 The World Programme for Human Rights Education identifies the promotion of understanding, tolerance, gender equality and friendship among all nations, indigenous peoples and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups as one of the constitutive elements of human rights education that aims at building a universal culture of human rights.4 The 2005 World Summit Outcome calls for the implementation of the World Programme for Human Rights Education and encourages all States to develop initiatives in this regard.5 30.
    [Show full text]
  • Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy Rethinking Women of Color Organizing
    Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy Rethinking Women of Color Organizing Andrea Smith Scenario #1 A group of women of color come together to organize. An argu- ment ensues about whether or not Arab women should be included. Some argue that Arab women are "white" since they have been classified as such in the US census. Another argument erupts over whether or not Latinas qualify as "women of color," since some may be classified as "white" in their Latin American countries of origin and/or "pass" as white in the United States. Scenario #2 In a discussion on racism, some people argue that Native peoples suffer from less racism than other people of color because they gen- erally do not reside in segregated neighborhoods within the United States. In addition, some argue that since tribes now have gaming, Native peoples are no longer "oppressed." Scenario #3 A multiracial campaign develops involving diverse conpunities of color in which some participants charge that we must stop the blacklwhite binary, and end Black hegemony over people of color politics to develop a more "multicultural" framework. However, this campaign continues to rely on strategies and cultural motifs developed by the Black Civil Rights struggle in the United States. These incidents, which happen quite frequently in "women of color" or "pee;' of color" political organizing struggles, are often explained as a consequenii. "oppression olympics." That is to say, one problem we have is that we are too b::- fighting over who is more oppressed. In this essay, I want to argue that thescir- dents are not so much the result of "oppression olympics" but are more abour t-, we have inadequately framed "women of color" or "people of color" politics.
    [Show full text]
  • The Case of the Missing Indigene: Debate Over a 'Second-Generation'
    The Case of the Missing Indigene: Debate Over a “Second-Generation” Ethnic Policy .BSL&MMJPUU ABSTRACT The last few years have seen a vigorous public policy debate emerge over a “second- generation” ethnic policy (di’erdai minzu zhengce) which, if implemented, would constitute a major revision of ethnic politics in China. Despite the fact that nationalities policy is a notoriously sensitive subject within China, the debate is happening openly in newspapers, academic journals and on the Internet. The prominence accorded to anthropological theory and international comparison is a notable feature of the debate. This article first explores the main positions in the ongoing policy discussion, then goes on to argue that, rather than comparing China’s non-Han peoples to minority immigrant populations in the industrial- ized democracies, a better comparison is to indigenous peoples. It then considers why this perspective is completely missing from the present debate. n recent years, a debate has arisen among intellectuals and officials in the IPeople’s Republic of China over the proper framework for managing the affairs of the country’s roughly 114 million citizens who identify themselves ethnically other than as Han Chinese (Hanzu 汉族).1 The earliest questioning of the present system for determining minority nationality status (shaoshu minzu chengfen 少数 民族成分) dates from about a decade ago, but the discussion has become greatly amplified since 2008, as the situation in many of the country’s ethnically dis- tinct frontier regions—notably, Tibet, Xinjiang and Mongolia—has deteriorated, * A version of this article was first presented at an international conference on the “second-generation” policy held at Shiga University (Japan) in December 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • Apartheid and Jim Crow: Drawing Lessons from South Africaâ•Žs
    Journal of Dispute Resolution Volume 2019 Issue 1 Article 16 2019 Apartheid and Jim Crow: Drawing Lessons from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Benjamin Zinkel Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr Part of the Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons Recommended Citation Benjamin Zinkel, Apartheid and Jim Crow: Drawing Lessons from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation, 2019 J. Disp. Resol. (2019) Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/vol2019/iss1/16 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at University of Missouri School of Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Dispute Resolution by an authorized editor of University of Missouri School of Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Zinkel: Apartheid and Jim Crow: Drawing Lessons from South Africa’s Truth Apartheid and Jim Crow: Drawing Lessons from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Benjamin Zinkel* I. INTRODUCTION South Africa and the United States are separated geographically, ethnically, and culturally. On the surface, these two nations appear very different. Both na- tions are separated by nearly 9,000 miles1, South Africa is a new democracy, while the United States was established over two hundred years2 ago, the two nations have very different climates, and the United States is much larger both in population and geography.3 However, South Africa and the United States share similar origins and histories. Both nations have culturally and ethnically diverse populations. Both South Africa and the United States were founded by colonists, and both nations instituted slavery.4 In the twentieth century, both nations discriminated against non- white citizens.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnos: Descent and Culture Communities
    1 Ethnos: Descent and Culture Communities Shared references Ethnic group, race and nation are three concepts sharing a single centre – or ‘core’ – with some notable and important differences at the periphery. Common to all is an idea of descent or ancestry and very closely implicated in all three we find ideas about culture. These ideas about culture will typically include myths about the past, beliefs about ‘the kind of people we are’, and the idea that ‘culture’ defines a group in that it may be constituted by language, dress and custom. In this sense they may all be described as ‘descent and culture communities’. Ethnic group, race and nation are all viewed, by themselves or by observers, as peoples who have or lay claim to shared antecedents. This idea of shared ancestry may not be as precise as the genealogies of extended families – though how can we tell how many imprecisions are concealed in family trees? – but there is nonetheless a repeating theme of ‘people coming from the same stock’. In English this word ‘stock’ is mostly used with reference to animals so in its use with reference to people it has a strong biological sense, a strong sense of genealogy and type. This sense of shared ancestry can certainly be found in dictionary definitions (below from the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, 1993) of all three of these terms: 14 Ethnos: Descent and Culture Communities Race: a group of persons (animals or plants) connected by common descent or origin; a tribe, nation, or people regarded as of common stock. [my emphasis] Nation: an extensive aggregate of persons, so closely associated with each other by common descent, language or history as to form a distinct race of people, usually organised as a separate political state and occupying a definite territory.
    [Show full text]
  • Nation-Building and Ethnicity1
    Nation-Building and Ethnicity1 There are many terms for defining human groups: they emerged in various societies with different histories and cultural traditions at different times. The meanings of these terms became more confused when they were translated into different languages. In English, there are terms to describe human groups such as “race,” “tribe,” “clan,” “nation,” “people,” “country,” “state,” etc2. Compared with these terms, “ethnic group” and “ethnicity” only appeared recently in the 20th century (Glazer and Moynihan, 1975: 1). These terms emerged in west Europe, the countries initiating the industrial revolution, then were introduced into other parts of the world accompanied by the western merchants, priests, and armies. These Europeans introduced their political and social systems as well as their ideology and values to other people by cultural influence or military force. “Nation-state” was the form of political entity first appearing in Western Europe, then adopted by colonies when they sought independence. “Nation” became an important term in international politics. “Nation-building” became a widespread political process among Asian, African and American countries, together with the powerful “nationalist” movement. At the beginning of the 21st century, there were about 200 independent countries around the world that were recognized by the international society (the United Nations). An important phenomenon is that political boundaries have not always been drawn according to human group inhabitance but often, oppositely, have been affected by wars, treaties, and international powers. Therefore, there are many different human groups living in the same countries; populations originally from the same group now living on both sides of a boundary.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is White Supremacy? by Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez
    What is White Supremacy? by Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez Copyright Elizabeth Martinez, February 1998. *Workshop Definition* White Supremacy is an historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations, and peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European continent, for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power, and privilege. I. What does it mean to say it is a system? The most common mistake people make when they talk about racism is to think it is a collection of prejudices and individual acts of discrimination. They do not see that it is a system, a web of interlocking, reinforcing institutions: economic, military, legal, educational, religious, and cultural. As a system, racism affects every aspect of life in a country. By not seeing that racism is systemic (part of a system), people often personalize or individualize racist acts. For example, they will reduce racist police behavior to "a few bad apples" who need to be removed, rather than seeing it exists in police departments all over the country and is basic to the society. This mistake has real consequences: refusing to see police brutality as part of a system, and that the system needs to be changed, means that the brutality will continue. The need to recognize racism as being systemic is one reason the term White Supremacy has been more useful than the term racism. They refer to the same problem but: A. The purpose of racism is much clearer when we call it "white supremacy." Some people think of racism as just a matter of prejudice.
    [Show full text]
  • Major Human Races in the World (Classification of Human Races ) Dr
    GEOG- CC-13 M.A. Semester III ©Dr. Supriya e-text Paper-CC12 (U-III) Human and Social Geography Major Human races in The World (Classification of Human Races ) Dr. Supriya Assistant Professor (Guest) Ph. D: Geography; M.A. in Geography Post Doc. Fellow (ICSSR), UGC- NET-JRF Department of Geography Patna University, Patna Mob: 9006640841 Email: [email protected] Content Writer & Affiliation Dr Supriya, Asst. Professor (Guest), Patna University Subject Name Geography Paper Code CC-12 Paper Name Human and Social Geography Title of Topic Classification of Human Races Objectives To understand the concept of race and Examined the different views about classification of human races in the World Keywords Races, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid GEOG- CC-13 M.A. Semester III ©Dr. Supriya Classification of Human Races Dr. Supriya Concept of Race: A Race may be defined as division of mankind into classes of individuals possessing common physical characteristics, traits, appearance that is transmissible by descents & sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type. Race is a biological grouping within human species distinguished or classified according to genetically transmitted differences. Anthropologists define race as a principal division of mankind, marked by physical characteristics that breed. According to Vidal de la Blache: “A race is great divisions of mankind, the members of which though individually vary, are characterized as a group by certain body characteristics as a group by certain body characteristics which are transmitted by nature & retained from one generation to another”. Race is a biological concept. The term race should not be used in connection with those grouping of mankind such as nation, religion, community & language which depends on feelings, ideas or habits of people and can be changes by the conscious wishes of the individual.
    [Show full text]