Slide 1Creating the Racial StateUS History to 1865Pamela OliverSociology 220_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Slide 2General Theoretical Orientation• Groups are in conflict. In our story, the conflict begins with European colonial expansion. One group seeking to take away what belongs to another.• Inequalities in military, economic resources lead to political inequalities• Resources and capacities are crucial• Weaker groups can resist domination and still lose• The struggles of the past create material conditions that constrain action choices in the present.• Today’s conflicts are structured by the past, are legacies of history_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Slide 3Americans Before 1500• Only indigenous Americans (AKA American Indians, Native Americans)• Arrived 12,000 – 30,000 years ago (before agricultural settlements in Europe)• Long history of civilizations rising & falling before Europeans• Estimates 2-10 million in what is now US• 300+ languages spoken but significant trade and “trade languages” • Some hunter/gatherers, some settled agriculture• No horses [horses introduced by the Spanish]_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Slide 4The Europeans & Africans Come• Columbus 1492. Spanish & Portuguese in Latin America & Caribbean – Columbus & slaves– Conquistadores of African descent (Moors)• French and British trade in North America• European settlers & their slaves in North America in 1600s. Importation of slaves 1607-1808.• Settlers vs. armies of conquest. – Settlers ultimately more deadly to the Americans– Indios still survive in much of Latin America_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Slide 51500-1776 Colonial Era • European incursions• European governments "claim" America and divide it among themselves.• Enslavement, pestilence and plagues, economic disruptions, warfare for the Americans.• South America: Spanish conquerors put a new layer on American [indio] populations.• In North America, European settlers intrude on the land, ultimately displace.• African slavery + some free Africans._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Slide 6The Europeans• Religious self-views. The Promised Land. The New Canaan, New Israel. • Some thought they should live peacefully with native Americans and share the land. Some did.• Others took a Biblical view: enter Canaan & kill all the inhabitants. Saw disease and deaths of natives as a sign from God. Hostile reactions from natives increased European hostility to the locals.• Tiny proportion of colonists were Pilgrims & Puritans arriving 1620s, but they became icons of the national myth. Most Europeans arrived after 1800. Most colonists immigrated for economic advancement_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Slide 7The Africans• 1607 - 1776. 175 years of slavery in colonial period. • Some Africans, like Europeans, 17 year indentures, but racial differences rapidly emerge• Always ~10% “free Blacks.” – A few even own slaves themselves– Free Blacks support the American revolution. Crispus Attucks.• Whites argue about whether “equality” should include Blacks._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Slide 8Americans & Europeans: Contact & Genocide• From 2-10 million before 1500 to 500,000 in 1800• Military battles, especially Spanish (less so English, French early on)• Disease: killed 90%+ of many American populations, weakened others, made European settlements possible• Economic disruption: Fur trade, Horses, plains culture• Early contacts more ambiguous: coexistence & conflict; intermarriage, contact between cultures. • Some American groups adopt European ways, even own slaves.• Others retreat west, regroup in the face of
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