Identifying Racism Throughout U.S. History

Learning Objectives

2-1 Why is racism a fundamental part of U.S. history?

2-2 What are some examples of systemic racism in U.S. history?

2-3 How did racism in the field of sociology hurt Black sociologists—including W. E. B. DuBois?

2-4 How can we use the sociological imagination to explain the effects of systemic racism on individual lives?

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, race and racism in the United States will be discussed with a focus on how racism became such a predominant part of U.S. history. Sociological imagination will also be discussed as a means for addressing systemic racism and working to modify policies to be more equitable and inclusive.

Annotated Chapter Outline

I.          Introduction

A.   Racial inequalities related to wealth, education, housing, and safety are inextricably tied to the color line problem.

i. Color line: refers to segregation between White and Black people in the United States

B.   African Americans faced the reality that their African American identity denied them privileges and rights attached to their American identity.

i. Double consciousness: describes an individual whose identity is split into two parts - one around Black people and one around White people

II.         Seeing the Big Picture: The United States and Racism: Racism is a fundamental part of U.S. history because it provided justification for exploiting human beings for financial success in a capitalist society.

A.   No United States Without Racism

i. Colonial America became inextricably tied to slavery in 1619 when Jamestown colonists purchased a group of kidnapped Africans from English pirates.

a.   Enslaved Africans provided a cheap labor source to make a profit

ii. Slavery was concentrated more in the southern than northern states, but northerners still benefited from enslaved laborers in the south (i.e. purchasing crops and objects created on plantations, insurances underwriting the slave trade).

B.   The United States Constitution and Racism

i. Articles of Confederation: first constitution of the United States

ii. To gain approval for the Constitution from all colonies, slavery remained an integral part of the United States.

a.   This involved a compromise on behalf of the northern delegates at the Constitutional Convention on a number of slave-related issues.

III.        Racism and Systemic Racism: The marriage between the history of the United States and slavery created systemic racism.

i. Systemic racism: the deeply rooted, institutionalized racial oppression that gives the dominant group power over individuals of color

ii. Individual level: one person discriminates against another person based on race and/or ethnicity

a.   Examples include telling racist jokes and microaggressions

iii. Institutional level: policies, laws, and institutions that produce and reproduce racial inequities

a.   Examples include slavery, redlining, and Jim Crow laws

iv. Structural level: interactions across institutions that produce and reproduce racial inequalities

a.   An example includes racial inequality in housing leading to health problems

B.   Racism and Genocide Against American Indians

i. White colonists used ideas of racial inferiority to justify their treatment of Native American bodies, culture, and land, shifting them further West, away from fertile land.

ii. This removal of American Indians from their land occurred from the colonial era through the urbanization movement in the 1950s.

C.   Asians and Racism in the United States

i. Asians first came to the U.S. in the 1850s and faced prejudice and discrimination by Whites who saw them as “yellow peril” and a threat to their jobs

D.   European Ethnic Groups Who Eventually “Became” White

i. Not all ethnic Europeans were considered White

a.   Racially “superior” people were from western and northern Europe

E.   Latinx Experience with Racism in the United States

i. Latinx’s dealings with racism began in 1848, the year of the Mexican-American War

ii. Increase in Mexican Americans in the U.S. after the war, leading to negative stereotypes and discrimination

F.   Scientific Racism and Justifications for Racial Inequalities

i. Scientific racism: the use of pseudoscience to “prove” the innate racial inferiority of some and the superiority of other racial groups

a.   Supported discrimination against African Americans and other non-White groups until WWII.

ii. Eugenicists were convinced it was important to prevent “undesirables” from producing children.

a.   Many White doctors and scientists sterilized many American Indian, Black, and Puerto Rican women without consent.

iii. Henrietta Lacks

a.   Her unique cancer cells were sampled and harvested without consent and marveled medical scientists who began to use these HeLa cells for research purposes.

iv. Tuskegee Experiment

a.   From 1932 to 1972 600 men participated in a study with syphilis, which led to 200 men never receiving treatment due to the desire of professionals to observe the natural course of untreated syphilis.

IV.        Racism and the History of Sociology: W. E. B. Du Bois’ work was not given the credit it deserved by White sociologists as his work studying and advocating for Black Americans was deemed unimportant.

A.   A More Inclusive Sociology

i. Sociology is much more inclusive today and one of the most racially diverse.

ii. Social policy: the implementation of a course of action through a formal program or law

iii. Advocacy: denotes the employment of resources to empower communities

V.         Using Sociology to Recognize and Address Institutional and Structural Racism: C. Wright Mills developed a concept that helps see the connection between individuals and larger social forces.

A.   Using the Sociological Imagination to Uncover and Address Systemic Racism

i. Sociological imagination: the ability to view our personal experiences and lives within a broader social context

a.   Behavior and attitudes connected to social patterns that affect a lot of people are issues best addressed at the societal level.

ii. Race-Based Policies and Schoolchildren's Access to Healthy Foods

a.   Residential segregation and lack of supermarkets in poor communities led to the necessity of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative.

b.   Policymakers ignore constricted circumstances within which individuals in poor urban areas must make food choices, perceiving these choices as being made based on personal tastes rather than systemic racism.

iii. The COVID-19 Pandemic and Racial Health Inequities

a.   The pandemic has magnified racial disparities in health outcomes, with Black people as a racial group suffering more harm from the virus.

a.   Less access to quality health care and insurance, preexisting conditions, racial bias in medical treatment, and an increased likelihood of working an “essential” job contributed to this disparity in health outcomes.

iv. Cumulative Disadvantage

a.   Cumulative disadvantage: inequities and negative consequences of those inequities throughout our lives

a.   Policies that perpetuate racial segregation in housing, schools, and in health care need to be modified for lasting change to occur.

b.   Dispense with the notion that individual people are racist, instead focusing on certain actions, policies, and laws as racist

a.   Opens the door for people to recognize how they can act in antiracist ways in supporting ideas, actions, and policies that promote equity, inclusion, and belonging.