...Even works of literature that intend to have a good message can be interpreted and read the wrong way. The novella, Oroonoko written by Aphra Behn, is a great example of this. Oroonoko is the story of the Royal Slave. It is written in the perspective of a white colonial woman in the eighteenth century. I found the novella to have a lot of subtle racial undertones despite the fact that during that time it was seen as an anti-slavery novel.(1) There have been debates on whether this novella is pro-slavery or anti-slavery? While reading, I decided that it was neither, but more so a novella from a revolutionist point of view. One of the first things that sticks out is the way in which she described Oroonoko physically. Behn stated that his face “was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jet.”(2) Pause. Using the word “rusty” to describe someone’s skin tone is never good, but when one thinks of rusty, it is something that was once white/shiny and now has just become old and discolored. His nose “was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat” and lastly his mouth “the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the Negroes”(2). With describing him physically she has reinforced negative African stereotypes by generalizing the look of the population. Not only that but these qualities she is giving him are all ones used to being seen in European societies. By giving...
Words: 1147 - Pages: 5
...was the most widespread and solidifying usage of slavery in world history. Other cultures have employed slavery during tragic times, but America was the first to use it to build an economy and build a stratified system of procuring and utilizing Africans for labor. Most of us are aware of the enslavement of Eastern European peoples ("slave" is actually a derivative of "Slav") during the sixteenth century and earlier. However, it was not as widespread and for the most part, it was domestic slavery, much like an unpaid civil servant (no I'm not condoning it). Africans were viewed as prized possessions, objects which confirmed the owner's wealth. When the New World was settled, the white invaders tried and failed to use labor from native peoples. I do not know if Africans were that much stronger or more "fit for physical labor," but that was the stigma. And so, Africa was raped of her culture and heritage as millions upon untold millions were shipped from west African nations because the white man assumed he was the superior being. And there they toiled for three hundred years under the burning sun. The thing that sets the United States apart from all those other countries that legalized slavery is the fact that the American economy was built upon slave labor. | I think your predilection for grandeur has made some of your statements false. And by "think" I mean, I know. You think that the 300 year span of American slavery was the most widespread use of slaves... ever? Is...
Words: 532 - Pages: 3
...It is most likely that slavery originally caused a prejudice towards the Africans being sold on the slave trade by the white colonists that later caused full on racism to bloom after decades of treating the Africans as property. This discussion is spoken of in length in document 4. The document goes over how Oscar and Mary Handlin fathered the idea that economic nessecity caused slavery and subsequently racism: "Racism emerged to justify slavery; it did not cause slavery." (Doc. 4). This idea was later challenged by multiple historians such as Winthrop D. Jordan and George Fredrickson who believed racism ultimately was the cause of slavery: "Jordan argued that Europeans had long veiwed people of color- and black Africans in particular- as inferior beings appropriate for serving whites. Those attitudes migrated with white Europeans to the New World, and white racism shaped the treatment of Africans in America- and the nature of the slave labor system- from the beginning." (Doc. 4). Regardless of its origins though, slavery was sustained to such a length primarily due to its economic effects in the colonies. Not only were the plantation owners making large fortunes off of the bondage of Africans but the prices of the products being sold directly correlated and were...
Words: 522 - Pages: 3
...Racism v. Slavery Although Western European explorers treated Africans as chattel during the African slave trade, racism did not play a component in who were considered slaves. Racism did not create slavery, slavery created racism. Africans being used as chattel was a result of competition between the Americas and East Asia. The Europeans simply did not want Asia to have superiority over them. Africans were sold into two distinct slave trades, the Atlantic slave trade and the trans-Saharan slave trade. The Atlantic slave trade was predominantly composed of African males. The purpose of these males was to provide hard labor in the fields as gardeners and harvesters. Unlike, the Atlantic slave trade, the trans-Saharan slave trade included...
Words: 379 - Pages: 2
...Scholar, Derrick Bell argues that racism is permanence that faces the bottom of the well. From an early childhood Bell seemed to have questions about slavery but never received a straight answer. Slavery wasn’t discussed in black community, and was hardly brought up in conversations due to the fact that it was too impacting to blacks at that time. The reason behind slavery wasn’t really discussed because of the exonerating of slaveholders so it was best to leave it alone. Slavery was not a topic which was dwelled upon in these times because the topic itself exonerated former slaveholders. Whites were afraid that blacks will get ahead of them. Slaves were degraded and treated as if they were property. They were held down because of worries...
Words: 525 - Pages: 3
...had to slavery. The connection the Confederate flag had towards slavery in the past is why using it today, as a southern heritage symbol is controversial. Due to the nature of the meaning of the confederate flag and it connection to slavery during the civil war, its meaning becomes blurred when when it flies anywhere except a museum dedicated to the civil war. When it is displayed elsewhere, it begins to represent a reminder and celebration...
Words: 1399 - Pages: 6
...The question is racism still problems in contemporary America? Some say yes. Other say no but I think otherwise because look at the past events in the last year that happen to young African American men or African Americans period. It shows that we as a race are still treated differently in 2015. In my eye we as a race still have to work ten times harder than other ethnics because the color of our skin. Racism is still in full effect in 2015 and it many years ago. Race was created socially primarily by how people perceive ideas of others. The definition of race all depends on where and when the word is being used. In U.S. history, the meaning of the label “white” has changed over time but the question is why is racism still alive and in full...
Words: 831 - Pages: 4
...Racism and the trauma that African Americans endure is not a new concept. Racism can be defined as a “socially organized set of practices that deny African Americans the dignity, opportunities, space, time, positions, and rewards this nation offers to white Americans. (Bryant Davis & Ocampo, 2005). The interplay of racism, ethnic identity development, and racial socialization appear to be dominant themes, as African Americans interface with the legacy of slavery. Although slavery was deemed illegal in 1865, its aftermath brought about specific trauma legacies in the form of laws and policies which supported the powerlessness of African Americans. This phenomenon is known as cultural trauma. Cultural trauma is the idea that slavery as the initial...
Words: 263 - Pages: 2
...In the Los Angeles Time newspaper, Halford H. Fairchild wrote a commentary talking about racism and arguing that although many people racism is “obsolete and not a contemporary problem”, “racism is a current event”. He explains that many people don’t consider many of the issues in our society as racism because they are thinking of racism as the era of slavery. However, in the modern days “[racism’s] expressions [are] more disguised and subtle”. When introducing the topic of slavery into the commentary, Fairchild goes in depth on the history of slavery and states that racism was supposed to disappear when slavery was abolished; however, perhaps without noticing, society has expend the “Ideology of white supremacy and black inferiority...with...
Words: 397 - Pages: 2
...During the Woman’s Suffrage movement time as an organization (1830-1920) it was involved in a few contradictions. First, although middle-class white women had being strong proponents of the anti-slavery movement during the 1830’s their support for the black cause dwindle when they were confronted with the question of whether black men should gain the right to vote before middle-class white women. Second, even though the Woman’s Suffrage Movement had being a strong supporter of working women their support diminished, but not only for working women, but for other working class individuals (i.e. black and white women and men and immigrants). Third, in the last decade of the nineteenth century with U.S. imperialist ideology expanding around the...
Words: 2140 - Pages: 9
...Racism happened earlier than the issue was considered to be such. Racism permeates the narrative of humankind. Mindsets of preceding cultures lacked reflection, therefore, did not address the logic or reasoning of their thoughts, feelings, or actions toward those deemed different. Unbeknownst to them, their attitudes reflected the acceptance of racism on a global scale for centuries. Nonetheless, the precise definition of racism only came into existence in the last one hundred years. What is racism then? The answer varies according to the psychological awareness and social progress of the culture defining. Hence the definition of racism has transformed over time. However, in today’s society racism describes an attitude arranged into three components comprising feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. Undoubtedly, the affective or feeling aspect of racism exposes the structural emotions of prejudice, condescension, and separation of a racism. The concept of liking someone is determined by our feelings. Racism acts on prejudice or “pre-judges” a separate race. Emotions of racism are arrogant enough they are construed for a fact, reality, or even in some cases divine truth, which created disdain toward the other races. The initial difference of people from Europe and the people from the “new world” were purely cultural. Unfortunately,...
Words: 516 - Pages: 3
...In the United States, race and racism exist as social systems that causes for those who are white to benefit, and those who appear to be of a race other than white to not benefit. The implementation of racism by Europeans, allowed for them to over time, be put in a position of dominance and benefit from the creation of whiteness that came as a result. The creation of whiteness brought with it certain privileges which can be defined as, “an institutional benefit, enjoyed by those who are empowered through structures of domination.”. These societal benefits that whites receive and people of color do not is called white privilege. White privilege in itself is a system of domination in the U.S that allows whites to have more of an advantage at...
Words: 1470 - Pages: 6
...Origins of Racism When the word racism comes about, many people don’t really stop and think where or even when racism began. They just think that since our history books tell us about the segregation that had occurred that it’s just a natural thing that happened in the past and still goes on today. The invention of racism was socially constructed and as a society, we developed the concept of racial segregation, racial discrimination, racial stereotyping and negative prejudice. Some believe that there is no real original concepts of how racism began, but how would we wrap ourselves around the concept of racism being uniquely developed so that one race was meant to be inferior to all the rest? There are many ideas about how racism came about. Some say that it’s because that’s how nature took its course. It was just made to have one race has to be above all the others, a superior race, and the inferior races, which are looked at as being intolerable. Seeing one race less important than another is dehumanizing but it is within the definition of racism, inferiority and superiority are stated. According to the Oxford dictionary, racism is defined as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, esp. so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. This mentality of having superior and inferior races began in the 1600s where slave trade was considered to be normal. Slavery was not based on racial discrimination...
Words: 1970 - Pages: 8
...2.0 Introduction Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. Racism has existed throughout human history. It may be defined as the hatred of one person by another -- or the belief that another person is less than human -- because of skin color, language, customs, and place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes. Racism and discrimination have been used as powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others in times of conflict and war, and even during economic downturns. During the past 500-1000 years, racism on the part of Western powers toward non-Westerners has had a far more significant impact on history than any other form of racism (such as racism among Western groups or among Easterners, such as Asians, Africans, and others). The most notorious example of racism by the West has been slavery, particularly the enslavement of Africans in the New World (slavery itself dates back thousands of years). This enslavement was accomplished because of the racist belief that Black Africans were less fully human than white Europeans and their descendants. From the 16th century until now, racism still exists and it is causing major problem to countries all over the world. Today, the minorities are often discriminate through...
Words: 582 - Pages: 3
...There is no denying that throughout the years not all humans were dealt with like humans. They were being misused as though they were items. This was an issue especially in Africa. Slave exchange dehumanized Africans on the grounds that it concentrated on the base made by law in America, which permitted white American to really own Africans. The rise of industrialization in America brought the interest for huge labor amounts and Americans just thought about cash. They considered slavery to be the easiest demanding approach to end up beneficial. The slaves were kept chained together on a ship. Diseases were common because people weren't able to go to the toilet. Slavery did not end overnight. People need to recognize that the economic benefit...
Words: 266 - Pages: 2
