why did white southerners believe that a system of racial slavery was important to maintain?
(more than one right answer)
A. they believed slavery protected enslaved African Americans from poverty and idleness
B. they believed that slavery was a necessary evil and could be ended once plantations were no longer economically viable
C. they believed blacks and whites were so politically incompatible that emancipation would lead to race war
D. they believed that slavery would gradually educate enslaved African Americans how to be citizens
race as a social construct
phenotype - collection of physical traits
physical traits are associated with character traits (criminality, intelligence, political eligibility)
association of traits is arbitrary and not based in biology
just because race is a social construct does not mean that racial identity is not important or that the consequences of racial hierarchies are not real
The Great Orphan Train Scandal
no welfare, child protection services or foster care
part of broader religious reform movements
Mariposa Arizona, 1860
40 Irish Catholic orphans from NYC fostered in Mexican Catholic families
Anglo-Protestant riot three days after arrival
are Catholics Americans? are Mexicans Americans?
Chinese immigration and exclusion
earliest Chinese immigrants to Mexico in 1520
1790 Naturalization Act - only "free white persons" of "good character" can become citizens
increase of Chinese, Korean and Japanese immigration during California gold rush 1850s
chain migration and temporary migration
350 Chinese men lynched 1850-1880
why did these racial lines matter so much?
(discuss with a partner, full points for all answers)
A. many believed that citizens in a republican democracy had to be very similar in order for it to function
B. the United States had grown out of a British colony and many white Americans believed that only British or European people could participate politically
C. many Americans believed that God had created separate races or even entirely separate Creations
D. without clear lines between white and black, racial slavery is philosophically impossible
anti-miscegenation laws
racial categorization depends on clearly defined racial lines
first in Virginia in 1660s
40 of 50 states had anti-race-mixing laws until 1976
census classification by phenotype - pencil test and ancestry up through 1986
race and labor unions
National Labor Union and Knights of Labor
established to fight for 10 hour day, family wage, and protection for women and child workers
worked to exclude Chinese, Hispanic and free black workers "for driving down wages"
broad industrial unions - organized all white workers
walkouts and strikes to protest hiring of non-white workers
era of compromise 1820 - 1850
1820 Missouri Compromise - Maine is free, Missouri is slave, keeps balance in the Senate
helped postpone the Civil War?
Compromise of 1850 - California admitted free, Texas admitted slave, passage of Fugitive Slave Act
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act - legality of slavery is voted by popular sovereignty
era of compromise 1820 - 1850
1820 Missouri Compromise - Maine is free, Missouri is slave, keeps balance in the Senate
helped postpone the Civil War?
Compromise of 1850 - California admitted free, Texas admitted slave, passage of Fugitive Slave Act
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act - legality of slavery is voted by popular sovereignty
1850 Fugitive Slave Act
1793 Fugitive Slave Act - required return but not really enforced
1850 Fugitive Slave Act - 6 months jail and $1000 for aiding an escape
raids and kidnappings in free black communities - required only the affidavit of a white person saying the kidnapped person was a slave