Based on Davis and Menchaca’s research, what was the significance and effect of the casta system and the one-drop rule on contemporary society?
The Casta System was a racial order that the Spanish introduced through which Mexico’s Population came to be legally distinguished based on racial segregations (Menchaca, p. 62). The basic reason behind this system was to disallow and prescribe legal rights to individuals and to assign the members of the society social privileges through the distinctions based on parental origin, which became a legal method of allocating economic and social privileges to the population especially in favor of the Spaniards. On the other hand, the one drop rule was equally used for similar purposes to the former, but only differed in the fact that it favored the whites and classified as black members of the society with and African ancestry, which implied that any member of the society with one drop of black blood was considered black. These systems ensured that the Spaniards and the white received more privileges and honors over the Mexicans, which brought about a social system of segregation, where the rich members of the society accumulated wealth while oppressing the locals and those with one drop of black blood. These disparities have led to the social class bias in the Americas, which has made the rich property owners belong to a higher class and oppress the people in the lower class, which is characterized with low living standards and fewer resources as well as opportunities.
How did manumission differ by gender, race and class in the Americas?
After about 1815, the slave system in the United States became distinctive by virtual closing off the possibility of manumission that had been considered a theoretical check on dehumanization in several communities (Davis, Ihuman Bondage, p. 3). Manumission indicated that a slave had the potential of becoming a free person in the society. The earlier slaves that were freed went ahead to own property such as land. Others also became slaveholders. While some masters willingly freed their slaves, other slaves organized manumission by purchasing themselves from their owners. In the Americas, manumission differed by gender in the fact that the male slaves were freed easily compared to the females who also served their masters sexual desires. On racial basis, the black slaves were poor and could not pay their masters; however, they grouped and freed themselves from their masters much later than other slaves. Finally, the rich slave owners did not free their slaves as the middle class members of the society did.
What were the cycles of conquest in the Southwest? When did they occur and what do DBD and MM argue about the impact these cycles have/had on race in the Americas?
The cycles of conquest refers to the practices that commenced in 1981 during the colonization era. These practices led to the rapture of the everyday lives of the people in Mexico during that time, and generated conditions that restructured the social relations. This restructuring of the social relations brought about racial factors as the main cause for social organization. When the indigenous people were concurred, the Spaniards instituted technological changes, created alliances, intermarried with the locals and instituted racial hierarchy (Menchaca, p. 67).
How did indigenous resistance differ in Mexico and in Southwest? How did indigenous resistance affect enslavement of Indians and Africans? What strategies did the Spanish use to control the indigenous population?
In the Southwest, most of the slaves were of African origin, which ensured that the resistant slaves joined forces and fought back against their Spanish masters. However, in Mexico, there were three forces that included the Indians, the Africans, and the Spaniard. In the latter location, the Africans, and the Indians formed two separate groups that fought against their masters as well as against themselves. Therefore, the indigenous resistance in southwest was faced with lesser challenges than the Mexican indigenous resistance. Following the indigenous resistance in both locations led to the freeing of slaves. Nevertheless, the Spanish used strategies such as giving the indigenous population tools, cooking utensils, and clothing that the former lacked, which ensured that they were less resistant. Additionally, the Spaniards used the locals to convince their fellow mates by promising them that no harm would come to them if they supported the Spaniards. They also took advantage of the divide between the indigenous people.
Using the film by Gates, how did the black experience in the U.S. differ from Latin America? Focus on 2-3 key differences
The experiences of the black population in America differed greatly in the United States, and Peru and Mexico as well as the whole of Latin America. This has led to the disparities in the composition of the American and Latin American blacks. While Latin America it was considered that one drop white ancestry classifies a person as white, in The United States, one drop black ancestry classified an individual black. Additionally, the slaves in the United States were repeatedly raped and accorded offensive names, which were considered in the U.S., but prohibited in Latin America.
