CJ 438 Ch. 1: Overview (Race, Ethnicity, and U.S. Demographics)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts from the notes on race, ethnicity, colonial history, and immigration in the U.S.

Race

A socially constructed category used to group people by perceived physical traits and ancestry; not a biological reality.

Ethnicity

A social category based on shared cultural identity, language, traditions, and customs (from ethnos, meaning nation).

Ethnos

Greek root meaning nation; the basis for defining ethnicity as shared cultural identity.

Blumenbach’s Taxonomy of Race

A historic five-race classification: Ethiopian (African), Mongolian (Asian), American (Native), Malaysian (Pacific Islander), Caucasian (White).

Skull morphology

A method once used to distinguish races based on skull shape; now discredited as a justification for racial hierarchies.

Caucasian

A term used by Blumenbach to describe White people; part of the old racial taxonomy.

Enlightenment

18th‑century intellectual movement that helped shape modern racial ideas; thinkers like Hume, Kant, and Jefferson contributed to notions of biological differences.

Notes on the State of Virginia (Jefferson)

Jefferson’s writings describing racial differences and arguing for a perceived natural hierarchy among races.

Race as a Social Construct

The idea that race is formed through social meanings assigned to physical traits or ancestry, rather than reflecting biology.

Enslavement and Native displacement policy (Indian Removal Act, 1830)

U.S. policy authorizing the removal of Native peoples from eastern lands to territory west of the Mississippi.

Trail of Tears

Forced relocation of Native Americans, resulting in widespread death and suffering.

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

A treaty noted in the notes as ending certain aspects of the international slave trade.

Fugitive Slave Law (1850)

Law requiring the return of runaway enslaved people to their enslavers.

Emancipation Proclamation (1863)

President Lincoln’s proclamation that freed enslaved people in Confederate states.

13th Amendment

Constitutional amendment, 1865, abolishing slavery in the United States.

Black Codes

Post‑emancipation laws that restricted the freedoms of Black people.

Convict‑lease system

A system where incarcerated people were leased out for labor to private landowners; a form of coerced labor.

Parchman Farms

Mississippi prison labor farm; an example of the convict‑lease system in practice.

Ku Klux Klan

White supremacist organization that used violence and intimidation to enforce racial hierarchies.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court ruling that upheld 'separate but equal' facilities for Black people in the South.

Great Migration

Mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to northern and western cities in the early to mid‑20th century.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court decision that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for Black and White students to be unconstitutional.

Civil Rights Act (1964)

Landmark federal law prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Hurricane Katrina (2005)

Disaster highlighting ongoing racial disparities in poverty and government responses in the U.S.

1619 Arrival of Africans in Jamestown

Africans aboard the São João Bautista arrived in Virginia in 1619, marking a key moment in U.S. enslaved‑person history.

São João Bautista (1619)

Portuguese slave ship that carried Africans to the English colony at Jamestown in 1619.

Arab Americans

Americans of Arab descent; have faced discrimination and marginalization, especially post‑9/11.

Mexican Americans / Latino/a/x Americans

U.S. residents of Mexican heritage or broader Hispanic/Latino identity; include histories of labor, migration, and policy changes.

Bracero Program

Post‑World War II program bringing Mexican laborers to U.S. agriculture and industry.

Immigration Reform and Control Act (1986)

U.S. law increasing border enforcement and offering temporary and some permanent status to certain undocumented immigrants.

Arizona v. United States (2012)

Supreme Court case concerning state authority over immigration enforcement (as cited in notes).

Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

Federal law restricting immigration from China for a decade (and extended later); fueled anti‑Chinese sentiment.

Executive Order 9066 (1942)

Order mandating the relocation and confinement of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Japanese American Relocation Camps

Facilities where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II.

Latino/a/x Americans

Term for diverse Hispanic/Latino populations in the United States, including Mexican American communities.

Assimilation into Whiteness (White Ethnic Groups)

Historically, some immigrant groups (e.g., German, Italian, Irish, Jewish Americans) assimilated into the category of 'White' over time.