DOCSLIB.ORG

The Legal Production of Race in American Slavery

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Legal Production of Race in American Slavery Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-23-2015 12:00 AM Creating Difference: The Legal Production of Race in American Slavery Shaun N. Ramdin The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Martin Kreiswirth The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Shaun N. Ramdin 2015 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Literature Commons, Legal History Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Ramdin, Shaun N., "Creating Difference: The Legal Production of Race in American Slavery" (2015). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2870. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2870 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CREATING DIFFERENCE: THE LEGAL PRODUCTION OF RACE IN AMERICAN SLAVERY (Thesis format: Monograph) by Shaun N. Ramdin Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Shaun N. Ramdin 2015 ABSTRACT AND KEYWORDS This dissertation examines the legal construction and development of racial difference as considered in literature written or set during the final years of American slavery. While there had consistently been a conceptual correspondence between black skin and enslavement, race or racial difference did not become the unqualified explanation of enslavement until fairly late in the institution’s history. Specifically, as slavery’s stability became increasingly threatened through the nineteenth century by abolitionism and racial slippage, race became the singular and explicit rationale for its existence and perpetuation. I argue that the primary discourse of this justificatory rationale was legal: through law race and its meaning was finally determined. However, as there was not a substantial body of legal texts, such as legislation and judicial opinions, defining race prior, legal determinations of race during this brief and tumultuous period ultimately produced race in service of slavery. To frame and understand these legal issues, my dissertation turns to nineteenth- century American literature. Because of the elusive nature of racial difference, literature provides a means to reflect upon and critique the law’s complicity in producing race. I begin with an overview of the difficulty of understanding and defining race as a concept, as well as the reasons why and when race became definitive of American slavery. I then turn to Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) which explores how race came to signify wrongdoing as a consequence of race-based slavery. I then discuss how knowledge of racial difference, characterized by its uncertainty, was stabilized by gender. As considered in Lydia Maria Child’s 1867 novel, A Romance of the Republic an ii individual’s uncertain racial identity was legally determined by recourse to his or her mother’s. The next chapter examines Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson, published in 1894, which refutes the very existence of a racial difference, suggesting its legal existence is arbitrarily produced for the purposes of slavery. Finally, I conclude with a consideration of the limits of, and unexplored issues raised by, this project. Keywords: slavery, American literature, American legal history, race studies, race relations, racism, Douglass, Child, Twain. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am immensely privileged to have spent significant time researching a topic I find fascinating and politically important. However, I would not have had the opportunity to do so without the assistance of many people. I would like to try to express my gratitude to them. My interest in the various topics touched on in this dissertation began during my time as a student at the University of Calgary, and I would like to acknowledge the faculty and staff of the Department of English there. Although it has been some time, and many faculty members have since moved on to other endeavours, I continue to be grateful for the training I received and the kindness I was shown when I was a student there. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Eric Savoy for his dedicated supervision of my M.A. thesis. I continue to be proud of the work we did together. I would also like to thank Dr. Jim Ellis, Dr. Nina van Gessel, Dr. Stephen Guy-Bray, Dr. Jon Kertzer, Dr. Pamela McCallum, and Dr. Aruna Srivistava for their generous support throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies. The specifics of this dissertation began to take shape when I was a law student, and I note the staff and faculty at the Faculty of Law at the University of British Columbia. I would especially thank Dr. W. Wes Pue. I have on many occasions benefitted from his constant willingness to discuss ideas and assist students and colleagues with their projects, and this dissertation is proof of that. The University of Western Ontario allowed me to pursue this project, and I would like to thank the faculty, students, and staff of the English Department. I am especially iv grateful for the direction and advice provided by Dr. Bryce Traister and Dr. Thomas Carmichael who thoughtfully guided my progress through the doctoral program, including serving on the examining committee for this dissertation. I would also like to acknowledge the memorable and enjoyable discussions I had during my time at Western, on all manner of topics, with Dr. Ross Bullen, Joel Burton, Dr. Patrick Casey, Dr. Alison Conway, Dr. Joel Faflak, Dr. Allison Fieldberg, Josh Lambier, Dr. Daniel Martin, Dr. Elan Paulson, and Dr. Jan Plug, among many others. I could not have asked for a better community of scholars and colleagues. The completion of this project would not have happened without the contributions of Dr. Jennifer Harris and Dr. Sasha Torres who served on its examining committee. I must also recognize the generous funding of this project by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and remark that I am honoured to have been a Canada Graduate Scholar. Also, a significant portion of this project was researched during my time as a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School, and I would like to thank the faculty and staff there, and Professor Mark Tushnet in particular, the Social Theory Working Group at HLS, and Dr. Homi Bhabha and the Humanities Center, for facilitating a wonderful year for me. From the beginning this project was urged forward by my supervisor Dr. Martin Kreiswirth, and he was tremendously patient in allowing me to complete it. I am always grateful for his advice, and his enthusiasm for the topics this dissertation considers, as well as for my thoughts on them, were essential to my completing this work. I am deeply appreciative of his mentorship and I look forward to continuing our dialogue on law, literature, and numerous other subjects. v Every accomplishment in my life is attributable to the love and support of my parents, Nehru and Lila Ramdin. This dissertation is no exception. I am not capable of expressing the extent of my gratitude for all that they have given me, so I will simply thank them for always expressing their belief in my abilities. Finally, I dedicate this project to my partner, Dr. Efrat Arbel, whose encouragement of this dissertation did not waiver. Her selflessness and passion in respect of her work is inspiring, and I continue to learn so much from her about my own work and ideas. Above all else, I would not have had the courage to pursue this project, or the willingness to complete it, without her. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract and Keywords ii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents vii INTRODUCTION 1 Racial Difference in American Slavery Introduction 1 The difficulty in defining ‘race’ 7 What ‘race’ meant to American slavery 12 The scope of this thesis 19 CHAPTER ONE 26 The Impudent Slave: Frederick Douglass’s My Bondage and My Freedom and the Conflation of Black Skin and Wrongdoing Introduction 26 The mechanics of plantation authority 34 Legal authority: people as property 44 Presuming slave wrongdoing on the plantation and beyond 62 Conclusion 80 CHAPTER TWO 83 ‘Partus Sequitur Ventrem’: Lydia Maria Child’s A Romance of the Republic and the Stabilization of Racial Difference Introduction 83 The racialized limits of family 89 ‘Partus sequitur ventrem’: the child follows the mother 99 Gender inequality in (interracial) marriage 110 Undermining prejudice 119 Conclusion 139 vii CHAPTER THREE 143 “By a Fiction of Law and Custom”: Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Creation of Racial Difference Introduction 143 Racial subordination after Emancipation 150 The uncanny limits of racial difference 166 Fingerprints and the arbitrariness of racial difference 179 Conclusion 199 CONCLUSION 204 “What is a White Man?”: Potential Directions Works Cited 216 Curriculum Vitae 226 viii ! 1 INTRODUCTION Racial Difference in American Slavery Introduction In 1910 Frank Ferrall of North Carolina, who wanted to divorce his wife, found himself litigating the content of legal racial definitions before the state
Load more

Recommended publications
  • BLACK WOMEN ARE LEADERS Long Form
    BLACK WOMEN ARE LEADERS IN THE MOVEMENT TO END SEXUAL & DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Ida B. Wells The Combahee River Collective Wells, a suffragist and temperance activist, famously and fearlessly This Boston-based collective spoke against lynchings, and also of black feminist lesbians worked to end sexual violence wrote the seminal essay The against black women. Radically, Combahee River Collective Wells identified scapegoating of Statement, centering black black men as rapists as a projection feminist issues and identifying of white men's own history of sexual white feminism as an entity violence, often enacted against black that often excludes or women. sidelines black women. They campaigned against sexual assault in their communities and raised awareness of the racialized sexual Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw violence that black women face. A legal scholar, writer, and activist, Crenshaw famously coined the term Loretta Ross "intersectionality," forever impacting An academic, activist, and writer, the way we think about social identity. Ros s has written extensively on Crenshaw's work draws attention to the topic of reproductive justice the fact that black women exist at the and is a pioneer of reproductive intersection of multiple oppressions justice theory. Her work has and experience the dual violence of brought attention to the ways both racism and misogyny. reproductive coercion, racism, and sexual violence intersect. Harriet Jacobs Tarana Burke Jacobs was born into An activist and public speaker, Burke slavery and sex ually founded the wildly successful assaulted by her owner, #MeToo movement. Specifically and eventually escaped created to highlight violence by hiding undetected in experienced by marginalized an attic for seven years.
    [Show full text]
  • Frederick Douglass
    Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection AMERICAN CRISIS BIOGRAPHIES Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph. D. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Zbe Hmcrican Crisis Biographies Edited by Ellis Paxson Oberholtzer, Ph.D. With the counsel and advice of Professor John B. McMaster, of the University of Pennsylvania. Each I2mo, cloth, with frontispiece portrait. Price $1.25 net; by mail» $i-37- These biographies will constitute a complete and comprehensive history of the great American sectional struggle in the form of readable and authoritative biography. The editor has enlisted the co-operation of many competent writers, as will be noted from the list given below. An interesting feature of the undertaking is that the series is to be im- partial, Southern writers having been assigned to Southern subjects and Northern writers to Northern subjects, but all will belong to the younger generation of writers, thus assuring freedom from any suspicion of war- time prejudice. The Civil War will not be treated as a rebellion, but as the great event in the history of our nation, which, after forty years, it is now clearly recognized to have been. Now ready: Abraham Lincoln. By ELLIS PAXSON OBERHOLTZER. Thomas H. Benton. By JOSEPH M. ROGERS. David G. Farragut. By JOHN R. SPEARS. William T. Sherman. By EDWARD ROBINS. Frederick Douglass. By BOOKER T. WASHINGTON. Judah P. Benjamin. By FIERCE BUTLER. In preparation: John C. Calhoun. By GAILLARD HUNT. Daniel Webster. By PROF. C. H. VAN TYNE. Alexander H. Stephens. BY LOUIS PENDLETON. John Quincy Adams.
    [Show full text]
  • Session 2 Home Ownership=Wealth Accumulation JCC Arts and Culture
    12/17/2020 Session 2 Home Ownership=Wealth Accumulation 1 JCC Arts and Culture Program Lev Rothenberg Director of Arts and Education 2 1 12/17/2020 Welcome and More…. Rules of the Road: • So glad you are here! • 2 parts: Presentation + Conversation. • Everyone’s voice is important. • Jot down your questions/comments. • Mute during presentation. • Raise your HAND to be recognized. • Do NOT use Chat. It is disruptive. Thank You! 3 From Last Week Any “Aha” moments to share from last week’s discussion, “History of Racism”? 4 2 12/17/2020 What is Racism? • Racism is commonly defined as “Prejudice + Power. • Prejudice is used against someone based on his/her race. • Racism is a belief that certain racial groups are superior to others and have rights and power over others. Racism can be manifested through beliefs, policies, attitudes and actions by governments, organizations and individuals. 5 What Is Systemic Racism? • It is Prejudice expressed through the Power of governments, institutions, organizations, policies and laws. • Systemic, Structural and Institutional Racism are often used interchangeably. For our purposes. .We will use the term Systemic Racism. 6 3 12/17/2020 The “Other Story” Much of our country’s history is from a White perspective, but . There is Another Story about Free Blacks and their relationship with govt. institutions 7 Wealth Accumulation Reviewing sources of wealth. • Household items Crops • Slaves Livestock • Land Precious metals • Buildings/homes Currency – (later) • Stocks/securities (First in1790’s in Philadelphia) Enslaved Africans in America had NO wealth. They were considered a Source of wealth. 8 4 12/17/2020 Early Colonists We all know .
    [Show full text]
  • Archiving Possibilities with the Victorian Freak Show a Dissertat
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE “Freaking” the Archive: Archiving Possibilities With the Victorian Freak Show A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English by Ann McKenzie Garascia September 2017 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Joseph Childers, Co-Chairperson Dr. Susan Zieger, Co-Chairperson Dr. Robb Hernández Copyright by Ann McKenzie Garascia 2017 The Dissertation of Ann McKenzie Garascia is approved: Committee Chairperson University of California, Riverside ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation has received funding through University of California Riverside’s Dissertation Year Fellowship and the University of California’s Humanities Research Institute’s Dissertation Support Grant. Thank you to the following collections for use of their materials: the Wellcome Library (University College London), Special Collections and University Archives (University of California, Riverside), James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center (San Francisco Public Library), National Portrait Gallery (London), Houghton Library (Harvard College Library), Montana Historical Society, and Evanion Collection (the British Library.) Thank you to all the members of my dissertation committee for your willingness to work on a project that initially described itself “freakish.” Dr. Hernández, thanks for your energy and sharp critical eye—and for working with a Victorianist! Dr. Zieger, thanks for your keen intellect, unflappable demeanor, and ready support every step of the process. Not least, thanks to my chair, Dr. Childers, for always pushing me to think and write creatively; if it weren’t for you and your Dickens seminar, this dissertation probably wouldn’t exist. Lastly, thank you to Bartola and Maximo, Flora and Martinus, Lalloo and Lala, and Eugen for being demanding and lively subjects.
    [Show full text]
  • Independent Freedpeople of the Five Slaveholding Tribes
    Anderson 1 “On the Forty Acres that the Government Give Me”1: Independent Freedpeople of the Five Slaveholding Tribes as Landholders, Indigenous Land Allotment Policy, and the Disruption of Racial, Gender, and Class Hierarchies in Jim Crow Oklahoma Keziah Anderson Undergraduate Senior Thesis Department of History Columbia University April 15th, 2020 Seminar Advisor: Professor George Chauncey Second Reader: Professor Celia Naylor 1 Kiziah Love, interview with Jessie R. Ervin, spring 1937, Colbert, OK, in The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives, ed. T. Lindsay Baker and Julie Philips Baker (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996), 262. See Appendix 6 for a full transcript of Kiziah Love’s slave narrative. © 2020 Anderson 2 - Notice - None of the work included in this document may be cited or quoted without express written permission from the author. © 2020 Anderson 3 - Table of Contents - Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 5-15 Chapter 1: “You’ve an Indian Not a Negro”: Racecraft, 15-36 Land Allotment Policy, and Class Inequalities in Post-Allotment and Post-Statehood Oklahoma Racecraft and Land Use in the Pre-Allotment Period 15 Racecraft, Blood Quantum, and Ideology in the Jim Crow South & Indian Territory 18 Racecraft in the Allotment Process: Blood Quanta, One-Drop-of-Blood Rules, and Land Land Allotments, Indigeneity, and Racecraft in Post-Statehood Oklahoma 25 Chapter 2: The Reshaping of Gender in the Post-Allotment and 38-51 Post-Statehood Period: Independent Freedwomen Landowners, the (Re)Establishment of Black Infrastructure, and
    [Show full text]
  • Jim Crow Laws to Pass Laws to Their Benefit
    13, 1866. It stated that "No state shall deprive any person of life, Name liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Many states got around this amendment by creating their own laws. Whites still held the majority of seats in the state legislatures, so it was easy Jim Crow Laws to pass laws to their benefit. Several states made marriage or even dating between races a crime. You could be put in prison for such a By Jane Runyon crime. Some vigilantes took the law into their own hands and hanged anyone they thought might be breaking this law. Vigilantes are people Many people believed that who try to enforce a law without the help of regular law enforcement. the end of the Civil War The hangings by these vigilantes were called lynchings. The Ku Klux would bring great changes to Klan became infamous as a vigilante group. the lives of slaves in the South. They were given There were several types of Jim Crow laws enforced during this time. freedom from slavery by the Louisiana had a law that made black passengers ride in separate President of the United States. railroad cars. A black man named Homer Plessey took the railroad to They were declared to be court saying this law was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court citizens of the United States. ruled that as long as the railroad cars used by the blacks were As citizens, they were guaranteed certain rights by the Constitution.
    [Show full text]
  • The Underground Railroad in Tennessee to 1865
    The State of State History in Tennessee in 2008 The Underground Railroad in Tennesseee to 1865 A Report By State Historian Walter T. Durham The State of State History in Tennessee in 2008 The Underground Railroad in Tennessee to 1865 A Report by State Historian Walter T. Durham Tennessee State Library and Archives Department of State Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Jeanne D. Sugg State Librarian and Archivist Department of State, Authorization No. 305294, 2000 copies November 2008. This public document was promulgated at a cost of $1.77 per copy. Preface and Acknowledgments In 2004 and again in 2006, I published studies called The State of State History in Tennessee. The works surveyed the organizations and activities that preserve and interpret Tennessee history and bring it to a diverse public. This year I deviate by making a study of the Under- ground Railroad in Tennessee and bringing it into the State of State History series. No prior statewide study of this re- markable phenomenon has been produced, a situation now remedied. During the early nineteenth century, the number of slaves escaping the South to fi nd freedom in the northern states slowly increased. The escape methodologies and ex- perience, repeated over and over again, became known as the Underground Railroad. In the period immediately after the Civil War a plethora of books and articles appeared dealing with the Underground Railroad. Largely written by or for white men, the accounts contained recollections of the roles they played in assisting slaves make their escapes. There was understandable exag- geration because most of them had been prewar abolitionists who wanted it known that they had contributed much to the successful fl ights of a number of slaves, oft times at great danger to themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Annotated Bibliography -- Trailtones
    Annotated Bibliography -- Trailtones Part Three: Annotated Bibliography Contents: Abdul, Raoul. Blacks in Classical Music. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1977. [Mentions Tucson-born Ulysses Kay and his 'New Horizons' composition, performed by the Moscow State Radio Orchestra and cited in Pravda in 1958. His most recent opera was Margeret Walker's Jubilee.] Adams, Alice D. The Neglected Period of Anti-Slavery n America 1808-1831. Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith, 1964. [Charts the locations of Colonization groups in America.] Adams, George W. Doctors in Blue: the Medical History of the Union Army. New York: Henry Schuman, 1952. [Gives general information about the Civil War doctors.] Agee, Victoria. National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States. Teanack, New Jersey: Chadwick Healy, 1983. [The Black History collection is cited . Also found are: Mexico City Census counts, Arizona Indians, the Army, Fourth Colored Infantry, New Mexico and Civil War Pension information.] Ainsworth, Fred C. The War of the Rebellion Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. General Index. [Volumes I and Volume IV deal with Arizona.] Alwick, Henry. A Geography of Commodities. London: George G. Harrop and Co., 1962. [Tells about distribution of workers with certain crops, like sugar cane.] Amann, William F.,ed. Personnel of the Civil War: The Union Armies. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1961. [Gives Civil War genealogy of the Black Regiments that moved into Arizona from the United States Colored troops.] American Folklife Center. Ethnic Recordings in America: a Neglected Heritage. Washington: Library of Congress, 1982. [Talks of the Black Sacred Harping Singing, Blues & Gospel and Blues records of 1943- 66 by Mike Leadbetter.] American Historical Association Annual Report.
    [Show full text]
  • Barthé, Darryl G. Jr.Pdf
    A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details Becoming American in Creole New Orleans: Family, Community, Labor and Schooling, 1896-1949 Darryl G. Barthé, Jr. Doctorate of Philosophy in History University of Sussex Submitted May 2015 University of Sussex Darryl G. Barthé, Jr. (Doctorate of Philosophy in History) Becoming American in Creole New Orleans: Family, Community, Labor and Schooling, 1896-1949 Summary: The Louisiana Creole community in New Orleans went through profound changes in the first half of the 20th-century. This work examines Creole ethnic identity, focusing particularly on the transition from Creole to American. In "becoming American," Creoles adapted to a binary, racialized caste system prevalent in the Jim Crow American South (and transformed from a primarily Francophone/Creolophone community (where a tripartite although permissive caste system long existed) to a primarily Anglophone community (marked by stricter black-white binaries). These adaptations and transformations were facilitated through Creole participation in fraternal societies, the organized labor movement and public and parochial schools that provided English-only instruction.
    [Show full text]
  • TERRIBLE. Publlbed Kiery Saturday Morulas of Barn and Tshouted, " There Goes Way North
    ing to molest the family, someone saw the Many of the escaping fugitives were THE COUNTY. the best Interests for the timt being of way In rear armed by their sympathisers while on the ward and troublesome humanity, suoh aa de Otu ttrnw Met. negro mounting another horse the light in violating ixtt Dayton Dotting--. the law, and once looked TERRIBLE. Publlbed Kiery Saturday Morulas of barn and Tshouted, " there goes way north. They were advised to use rear the in the solid iron ease in lbs baek room, is diseases, Street, weapons only when to do so as Dattor, 111., Feb. 7. Another floe snow ars Xldasy and Liver and At Mot. 810 and 814 I Sail thenlggerl" In a moment other horses their farced entirely safe; in faot, the iron oage is just as firm storm baa oommeneed this morniig which whia ones they havs secured a ColwU-8horwoo- Block.) were mounted by the slave catchers and the last extremity of self defense, and then brm aud secure aa any eer ereoted, and hold en tha annua system there la BONS,l'roprirtoni, were In swift pursuit of to "strike hard and spare not." A mulatto, will make the sleighing still better. It bas Marshal Maber or Seneca looks al it with no time to be lost life la to ba WM.OBMAN their friends and May if named Free, living at Springfield, bad a been excellent this winter, and during the pride. the oitiitna never have occasion saved. Kany remedies have been TV11U4 l)F 8MHHCKIPT10N the solitary horseman, whom they caught to use tbe cage part of past few weeks the it.
    [Show full text]
  • (In)Determinable: Race in Brazil and the United States
    Michigan Journal of Race and Law Volume 14 2009 Determining the (In)Determinable: Race in Brazil and the United States D. Wendy Greene Cumberland School fo Law at Samford University Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Education Law Commons, Law and Race Commons, and the Law and Society Commons Recommended Citation D. W. Greene, Determining the (In)Determinable: Race in Brazil and the United States, 14 MICH. J. RACE & L. 143 (2009). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjrl/vol14/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Michigan Journal of Race and Law by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DETERMINING THE (IN)DETERMINABLE: RACE IN BRAZIL AND THE UNITED STATES D. Wendy Greene* In recent years, the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro, So Paulo, and Mato Grasso du Sol have implemented race-conscious affirmative action programs in higher education. These states established admissions quotas in public universities '' for Afro-Brazilians or afrodescendentes. As a result, determining who is "Black has become a complex yet important undertaking in Brazil. Scholars and the general public alike have claimed that the determination of Blackness in Brazil is different than in the United States; determining Blackness in the United States is allegedly a simpler task than in Brazil. In Brazil it is widely acknowledged that most Brazilians are descendants of Aficans in light of the pervasive miscegenation that occurred during and after the Portuguese and Brazilian enslavement of * Assistant Professor of Law, Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.
    [Show full text]
  • Slavery in the United States - Wikipedia Page 1 of 25
    Slavery in the United States - Wikipedia Page 1 of 25 Slavery in the United States Slavery in the United States was the legal institution of human chattel enslavement, primarily of Africans and African Americans, that existed in the United States of America in the 18th and 19th centuries. Slavery had been practiced by Americans under British rule from early colonial days, and was legal in all Thirteen Colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It lasted until the end of the American Civil War. By the time of the American Revolution (1775–1783), the status of slave had been institutionalized as a racial caste associated with African ancestry.[1] When the United States Constitution was ratified (1789), a relatively small number of free people of color were among the voting citizens (male property owners).[2] During and immediately following the Revolutionary War, abolitionist laws were passed in most Northern states and a movement developed to abolish slavery. Most of these states had a higher proportion of free labor than in the South and economies based on different industries. They abolished slavery by the end of the 18th century, some with gradual systems that kept adults as slaves for two decades. However, the rapid expansion of the cotton industry in the Deep South after the invention of the cotton gin greatly increased demand for slave labor, and the An animation showing when United States territories and states Southern states continued as slave societies. Those states attempted to extend slavery into the new Western forbade or allowed slavery, 1789–1861.
    [Show full text]