Module 2: A History of Racism
Module 2: A History of Racism
Embedded Files
Introduction
Contrary to popular belief, racism is not a natural phenomenon. It is, instead, a relatively recent historical anomaly that is based on material, cultural, and political events. This module means to provide you the resources to understand the historical development of racism as an ideology.
Articles
Historical Foundations of Race.pdfThe Historical Foundations of Race - This article was written by the the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. The article discusses the emergence of racial consciousness largely as a consequence of European colonization and how it has continued to serve a malevolent material and cultural purpose.
The Transatlantic Slave Trade Led to the Birth of Racism - Shad.pdfThe Transatlantic Slave Trade Led to Racism - This article explains how the material conditions of the early colonial period led to the creation of racism. The need for labor to exploit the riches of their new American colonies led Europeans to establish the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This, however, caused a moral dilemma, that was "solved" by creating racism to explain this imbalance.
Web Resources
The Historical Roots of American Racism - This libguide was produced by Fitchburg State University and provides a number of resources looking at the development of racism in the United States and its functions.
Videos
This 10.5-minute film discusses the origins of race in America and how it has evolved over time.
This 10-minute video discusses the efforts by some intellectuals to misinterpret the insights of Darwinian evolution to create a brutally-racist social order. and carry out genocide.
This 6.5-minute video discusses the "science of racism," discussing how individually bigoted/prejudiced feelings are transformed into power.
This 11.5-minute video was produced by ABC News. It provides audio clips of formerly enslaved African-Americans (recorded in the 1930s), who describe their conditions under slavery.
Books
Racism: A Short History is a short historical text that discusses the development of racism, running back to the late Middle Ages and the systemization of anti-Semitism, through European colonial expansion and the modern day. Principally, the authors uses two racist societies: Nazi Germany and Jim Crow America to discuss how racism operates and the means to resist it.
The Invention of the White Race, Vol. 1 and 2 is a brilliant history of the creation of the of the "white race," a concept that did not appear until the mid-1600s. After this period of
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