Race Making

Author(s):  
Monika Gosin

Chapter 1 provides background for understanding the contentious interethnic relations explored in the book. It details Miami’s turbulent Jim Crow history, the historical forces that brought Cubans to Miami, and the clashes that would arise between white Anglos, Cubans, and African-Americans. The chapter illustrates how racist forces and ideologies of worthy citizenship imposed a strict separation between the categories of “African-American” and “Cuban,” and “black” and “white” in Miami, despite the actual heterogeneity of people placed in these categories. The chapter argues that three dominant race-making frames involved in the creation of worthy citizenship, traditionally utilized by whites to divide themselves from groups of color, become useful for racialized groups when they are faced with political, economic, and social instability. Using the case of Miami, the chapter illuminates how histories of white colonial and settler domination, and ideologies that justify such domination, are connected to interethnic conflict writ large.

Author(s):  
Richard Archer

Except in parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut, slavery was a peripheral institution, and throughout New England during and after the Revolution there was widespread support to emancipate slaves. Some of the states enacted emancipation laws that theoretically allowed slavery to continue almost indefinitely, and slavery remained on the books as late as 1857 in New Hampshire. Although the laws gradually abolished slavery and although the pace was painfully slow for those still enslaved, the predominant dynamic for New England society was the sudden emergence of a substantial, free African American population. What developed was an even more virulent racism and a Jim Crow environment. The last part of the chapter is an analysis of where African Americans lived as of 1830 and the connection between racism and concentrations of people of African descent.


Author(s):  
Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley

African-American dancer, singer, comedian Eddie Anderson pursued an entertainment career in California, his opportunities limited by Jim Crow-era racism in Hollywood but also shaped opportunities in night clubs and cabarets that catered to both black and white patrons. Winning an audition for a one-time role on Benny’s radio show, Anderson’s inimitable gravelly voice spurred Benny to create a full time part, the character of Rochester Van Jones, Jack’s butler and valet, in late 1937. Although initially hampered by stereotyped minstrel-show dialogue and character habits, Rochester soon became renowned by both white and black listeners for his ability to criticize the “Boss” in impertinent manner. Virtually co-starred in three films with Benny that were highly successful at the box office, commenters in the black press in 1940 hoped that Rochester offered “a new day” in improved race relations.


Author(s):  
Tyrone McKinley Freeman

The conclusion brings together the lessons and insights provided by examining Walker’s philanthropic life. After summarizing the origins, evolution, and character of Madam Walker’s gospel of giving, it underscores the historical importance of black women’s philanthropy in undermining and resisting Jim Crow and its enduring role in ultimately dismantling the institution. Further, it suggests an approach to theorizing black women’s generosity as being based on five characteristics: proximity, “resourcefull-ness,” collaboration, incrementalism, and joy. It also affirms philanthropy as a powerful interpretive and analytical lens through which to examine African American life in general and black women in particular. It urges collaboration between scholars interested in philanthropy and black women to mutually strengthen intellectual inquiry and understanding of who counts as a philanthropist and what counts as philanthropic giving. It contends that Walker’s gospel of giving is more accessible as a model of generosity than the prevailing examples offered by today’s wealthiest 1 percent. It is certainly the direct inheritance of African Americans today, but relevant to all Americans, regardless of race, class or gender, interested in taking voluntary action in the twenty-first century.


2021 ◽  
pp. 154-176
Author(s):  
Jason E. Shelton

This chapter assesses the importance of spirituality among African Americans. More specifically, it examines the extent to which respondents in a large, multiyear national survey view themselves as a “spiritual person.” Four sets of comparative analysis are offered: (1) racial differences among black and white members of various evangelical Protestant traditions, (2) racial differences among black and white members of various mainline Protestant and Catholic traditions, (3) denominational differences specifically among African Americans, and (4) racial differences among blacks and whites who view themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” The findings reveal significant interracial and intraracial differences in how spirituality shapes one’s personal identity. Because organized religion has historically been so central to African American community life, the implications for the growth in noninstitutional spirituality are considered.


Author(s):  
Nathan Cardon

Chapter 4 argues that the Jim Crow modernity at the fairs foreshadowed a Jim Crow empire after 1898. The Cotton States and International Exposition and Tennessee Centennial Exposition presented arguments for a distinctly southern imperial expansion. The Negro Buildings coupled with African American participation provided a blueprint for the incorporation of nonwhite colonial natives into the United States. By solving the supposed problems of a multiracial society by including the labor of African Americans while denying them the rights of citizenship, the South presented a framework for empire. At the same time, the exhibits and conferences held at the Negro Buildings often embraced the civilizing language of imperialism. Rhetoric about “primitive” and “heathen” Africans and the need for technical schools in Africa placed the southern African American professional and clerical staff within and alongside American expansionism.


2002 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Brawley ◽  
Chris Dixon

Between 1941 and 1945, as the U.S. military machine sent millions of Americans——and American culture——around the world, several thousand African Americans spent time in Australia. Armed with little knowledge of Australian racial values and practices, black Americans encoutered a nation whose long-standing commitment to the principle of "White Australia" appeared to rest comfortably with the segregative policies commonly associated with the American South. Nonetheless, while African Americans did encounter racism and discrimination——practices often encouraged by the white Americans who were also stationed in Australia during the war——there is compelling evidence that their experiences were not always negative. Indeed, for many black Americans, Australians' apparent open-mindedness and racial views of white Britons and others with whom African Americans came into contact during the war. Making use of U.S. Army censors' reports and paying attention to black Americans' views of their experiences in Australia, this article not only casts light on an aspect of American-Australian relations that has hitherto recieved scant scholarly attention and reveals something about the African American experience, but also offers insights into race relations within the U.S. armed forces.


1993 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Montgomery ◽  
Janet M. Fuller ◽  
Sharon DeMarse

ABSTRACTThe analysis of letters written by 19th-century African Americans shows constraints on verbal -s marking which parallel those found in the writing of Scotch-Irish immigrants in the same time period and region, specifically a subject type constraint and a proximity to subject constraint. This correlation is highly suggestive for the study of the development of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). This study finds no support for a basis from a creole or from Standard English for AAVE in verbal concord and concludes that some, perhaps many, African Americans used varieties of English with little or no creole influence. Earlier studies have assumed that standard dialects of English constituted the superstrate in colonial and antebellum America; this analysis makes it clear that we must examine the features of the local varieties, black and white, before making any claims about the influences of language contact on a given variety. Further, the consistent patterns of inflections found in this study show that written documents, in particular letters written by semiliterate African Americans, are a good source for further linguistic study of 19th-century language.


2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 198-200
Author(s):  
Natasha Persaud

The author, who embraced the teachings of Louis Farrakhan's revampedNation of Islam (NOI) in the late I 970s to find solutions to America's raceproblems, left disillusioned in the mid-1990s. What he witnessed as hepassed through the organization's rank and file compelled him to compilehis experiences to give others a clearer understanding of the Nation's originsas well as its role concerning the issues facing African-Americans.Inside the Nation of Islam is divided into I I chapters and contains aforeword by Mike Wallace an epilogue by the author, extensive notes, abibliography, and an index. Also included are several photographs thatillustrate White's extensive involvement in the NOLWith a brief overview of African-American history prior to the NOI'screation, chapters 1 and 2 touch on the Harlem Renaissance, the origin ofthe Jim Crow laws, and the mass exodus of African-Americans from theSouth to the North. With the fall of similar resistance movements, theNOJ stepped in to address the bitter disillusionment that many of themexperienced upon their arrival in the North ...


Lexicon ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Listiyaningsih Listiyaningsih

This graduating paper analyzes Jim Crow laws as reflected in Langston Hughes’ short stories “Breakfast in Virginia” and “Trouble with the Angels”. This study aims to identify the practice of Jim Crow laws as seen in “Breakfast in Virginia” and “Trouble with the Angels”. This graduating paper applies mimetic theory proposed by Abrams since it is the most suitable approach to be used to analyze the connection between the literary work and the reality. There are two types of data which are used in this paper. The primary data are the short stories entitled, “Breakfast in Virginia” and “Trouble with the Angels”. Meanwhile, the secondary data are the references that support the analysis and are taken from the internet browsing.Based on the data analysis, this research concludes that segregation is the practice of Jim Crow laws in these two short stories. The segregations are clearly seen mostly in public places. In “Breakfast in Virginia” the segregations happen in the train, specifically in Jim Crow car and in the dining car in Virginia. Meanwhile, in “Trouble with the Angels” the segregations are clearly visible in the hotel and in the theater in Washington. In “Breakfast in Virginia” the segregations are faced by African American soldiers during World War II. Meanwhile, in “Trouble with the Angels” the segregations are experienced by African American actors and the other African American citizens of Washington. These two short stories show that Jim Crow laws made African Americans life getting worse, especially in public places. Both in “Breakfast in Virginia” and in “Trouble with the Angels”, African Americans cannot use the same public facilities as the whites. They can only use public facilities specially provided for the African Americans which have improper conditions. During the practice of Jim Crow laws, their rights are denied. This is proved by the segregations that do not only restrict African Americans from middle or low class status but also restrict those who have a higher status regardless their influential contribution toAmerica. This condition is painful for them.


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