Origins of Dominant Minority Relations in the US

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Origins of Dominant Minority Relations in the US
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Roots of Racial Ideology

• England- after invasion in the 12th century
• - English (Anglo-Normans) seek to expand
• - Armies invade westward
• - leads to conflict with Irish

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Next five centuries

• English repeatedly invade Irish lands remember
  the Noel Hypothesis here about competition over
  resources or desired resources
• By 16th and 17th centuries- English place a
  standing army in Ireland
• Irish resistance is fierce- English only
  partially succeed- Desire for land now focus on
  New World

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Inventing the Savage

• English (dominant invaders) develop attitude
  toward Irish (minority resistors) during extended
  period of conflict with them.
• Irish are described as wild, beastly, ignorant,
  cruel, unruly infidels, cannibals, heathens,
  superstitious, idolatrous, unclean, loathsome,
  wicked, barbarous, unclean, and uncivil.
• Notion of the other and the dividing of people
  into civilized vs. uncivilized categories.

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As English settlers invade Irish lands

• They create laws aimed at preventing the
  assimilation of Irish culture into English
  - English outlaw intermarriage with Irish
• - Forbid the wearing of Irish dress, use of
  Irish language, and many other forms of social
  interaction
• Consider what laws tell you about the nature
  relations between groups as you complete
  Assignment 1.

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Additional factors driving attitudes

• Religion- Irish Catholic vs. English Protestant
• Different cultural traditions

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Result

• Ideology will be transferred to America during
  Age of Discovery and in subsequent immigration
  periods.
• Irish immigrants deemed savages incapable of
  assimilating.

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Europeans and the Age of Discovery

• little contact with human diversity
• geographic isolation
• technological advances prompt travel
• placing Europeans in contact with other groups
  different both in physical characteristics and
  culture

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Ideological Racism Transfers as Technologically
Advanced Europeans Colonize Land/Peoples

• Deeply held notion of Irish as inferior easily
  transferred to blacks and Indian peoples.

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Early Colonies in America (1600s)
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Jamestown Virginia Settled by English men seeking
land/wealth.
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Massachusetts Bay Colony Plymouth Puritans
seeking to establish separate religious community
and free exercise of their religion
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Jamestown, Virginia Colony

• Many were from laboring or small gentry classes.
• Some were criminals and those in poorhouses that
  English transferred to the colony.
• The need to advance themselves creates highly
  competitive atmosphere.

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The Labor Problem

• Main objective of early colonists (particularly
  in Virginia)- acquire land
• - accumulate wealth
• Tobacco was a cash crop but, requires large
  tracts of land and sufficient cheap labor to
  grow and process in order to reap large profits.

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First Labor Solution Indentured Servitude

• Precursor to institutionalized slavery.
• Whites and blacks shared similar conditions.
• Conditions were often brutal.
• During the early decades of colonies, a few
  survived their indentured period.
• By 17th century- increasing numbers survive and
  seek to establish themselves.

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Bacons Rebellion 1676

• Resentment toward colonial elites builds as a
  result of lack of government response to Indian
  attacks.
• Groups of whites, blacks, and mixed
  peoplesdemand government allow them to attack
  Indian areas and confiscate land.
• Nathaniel Bacon, young, wealthy Englishmanleads
  a group of poor whites and blacksgroup sets
  Jamestown on fire.

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Rebellion Fails . but

• Colonial elites fearing the solidarity of these
  working class groups- deliberately make
  concessions to European poor and not blacks,
  Indians, or mixed people
• - divide and conquer philosophy

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Assignment 1

• Read the various laws will help you understand
  how regulating labor practices became the
  regulation of race.
• Three Focus Areas

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Focus Area 1
Do the documents demonstrate that in early
Jamestown there was significant social
interaction among Indians, Europeans and
Africans? What were the different types of social
interactions that occurred (e.g. economic,
sexual, resistance to oppression)? What was its
significance, and what was the reaction of
judicial and legislative powers in response to
them?

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Focus Area 2

• I eliminated this second focus.

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Focus Area 3

• The laws and judicial decisions of 17th century
  Jamestown are based on a variety of
  rationalizations used to justify the temporary or
  permanent enslavement of numerous groups. How do
  these rationalizations change over time? Why do
  you think they change?

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Focus Area 4

• Was racial categorization and the legal
  restrictions it was designed to enforce resisted
  by those who were oppressed by it? What different
  forms of resistance can we find in the legal
  records? What strategies, if any, seem to have
  met with at least temporary success?

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Focus Area 5

• Many of the laws and judicial cases regulate
  sexual behavior according to evolving categories
  of "race." They prohibit or sanction marriage,
  and define the "race" and status (free or
  enslaved) of ensuing offspring. What is the
  purpose of these evolving definitions and why
  were they deemed necessary? Who gained status,
  privilege and wealth by the adoption of these
  regulations? Who lost it? (Be sure to consider
  the role of women as well as men in your answer.)