The concept of “whiteness” is, of course, silly on its face. “Pinkness,” or perhaps, “very light tanness” would be more accurate. Nevertheless, the term is deeply embedded into cultural discourse. “White privilege” is the phrase of the day. “White Man’s Burden” was the public face of the reasoning for British imperialism. White men (no women need apply in those bygone days) not only “could” govern their poor, benighted “colored” brethren better than they could govern themselves, it was an affirmative duty to bring superior culture and civilization to the savages.
In the history of the United States the concept of “white” justified both the taking of “red” man’s lands as well as holding “black” human beings as chattel slaves. This led to a careful tracking of lineage while an entire vocabulary of “mulatto” (half-white) and “quadroon” (one-quarter white) and “octoroon” (one-eighth white) identified variations on the theme. Indeed, Davis (1991) points out the legal position was that “one drop of black blood” rendered a person black and therefore subject to slavery.
One would assume, then, that the concept of “whiteness” would give any non-negro, non-American Indian or non-Asian person a position of relative equality. One would, of course, be wrong. Successive wave of “white” immigrants faced overt discrimination.
The earliest permanent settlements, Jamestown, Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay and the rest were English. The French settled in Canada and explored widely in the north and northwest. The Spanish and Portuguese settled in the south and explored the south and west as well as Mexico. For the French, settlements were ephemeral south of what is now Canada and French influence was limited to trapping and trading expeditions. Similarly, the Spanish were conquistadores in search of riches although the missionaries accompanying these expeditions did set some more permanent settlements in place. To travel across the United States is to identify these waves of settlement and exploration. In the New England area placenames reflect this heritage. New Haven, Bristol, New York and dozens of others mark English influence. In the northern Midwest Joliet and Marquett and Ste. Genevieve show where the French arrived first. And in the southwest dozens of “Sans,” San Francisco, San Diego, San Jacinto, San Juan or San Jose show Spanish influences.
But not all “whites” were created equal. Indeed, some of the strongest discrimination occurred among whites, not by whites against blacks or browns or yellows or reds. The Irish provide a good example.
Mokyr (2016) explains that faced with the devastating potato blight and accompanying famine 1845-49 as many as 2 million (almost a quarter of the total population) Irish emigrated. Many of this wave came to America and settled first in New York. This is the era made famous by Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (2002). Marked by accent and religion the Irish were the victims of systematic discrimination. “No Irish Need Apply” signs (confirmed by Bulik (2015)) drew no protests. Ultimately, as Daniels (2010) points out, the Irish used their “whiteness” to distinguish themselves from other minorities. In the vernacular Irish were “white negroes.” A reputation for drunkenness gave rise to the term “paddy wagon,” from the common Irish given name “Patrick.” In part this could reflect a long standing enmity between the Irish and the British which carried over to the “new world.”
But the Italians fared no better. Rapczynsky (2016) points out that Italian unification in 1871 had resulted in a unified government. It had left southern Italy in a great depression though. Hopeless Italians immigrated in the “New Immigration” of the closing decade of the 1800s through the first decade of the 20th Century in unprecedented waves. Unlike the Irish who shared a common language with the “white” establishment, Italians were set apart by language. Few were skilled and their agricultural background left them unprepared for urban life in the new land. While Irish were branded “micks” from their common “McSomething” surnames, the Italians became “wops” from With Out Papers. Both pejoratives remains fighting words today.
Even Asians, whether they trace their ancestry to China or Japan or Korea or some other area are only marginally identified as “non-white.” Often, indeed, they are seen as a sort of “white plus.” Good grades are expected. College educations are expected. A certain level of simple politeness and respect is ingrained.
What remains of “non-white” clearly identifiable groups seem to be blacks, browns and American Indians. The black experience is, of course, unique in that over 10 million of the ancestors of today’s black community made the terrible middle passage in the holds of slave ships according to Gates (2014). The “peculiar institution” grew up around the cotton/plantation economy in the American south. The Civil War ended slavery but subsequent poll taxes, “Jim Crow” laws and simple intimidation kept black persons from full participation in the American experience through the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
Individuals broke barriers, but institutions held on to their discriminatory ways. Jesse Owens might win a Gold medal to the great discomfort of Adolph Hitler, but he could not enter the front door of a hotel in many places. Jackie Robinson might dazzle on the baseball field, but he could not eat with his team in a restaurant. Such discrimination was not only tolerated, it was codified in Plessy v Ferguson, one of the most famous Supreme Court cases ever. The History Channel Staff (2009) remind us that Plessy v Ferguson established as a Supreme Court ruling that “separate but equal” facilities were constitutional. Ongoing discrimination was enshrined in this ruling since in reality, “equal” was never obtained.
This ruling and the sociological impacts that flowed from it stood until another Supreme Court ruling in Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas found, indeed, that “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. . ." (U.S. Courts (2016)). Shortly after Brown an unassuming woman named Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama kicking off what became the great Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s and the 1960s.
That the movement was successful is beyond doubt. Not only is discrimination based on race illegal under a series of federal laws known, as a group, as the Civil Rights Acts, but this anti-discrimination philosophy has expanded to a variety of other “protected” groups, few of which have anything to do with “whiteness” or “white privilege.” Discrimination is categorically prohibited on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability. No more “No Irish Need Apply” or “Whites Only” signs will be seen. Moreover, it is hard to argue the case for systematic discrimination when the President of the United States, the present and immediate past Attorney General of the United States, and two past Secretaries of State (fifth in line to be President in case of a disaster) are all black, along with board rooms, and government offices populated with minorities of all shades.
What are we to make of the return to segregation, albeit self-segregation, of the early 21st century. Black Lives Matters seems to be “Only Black Lives Matter If They Are Ended By A White Person” since this group patently ignores the ongoing black on black carnage in Chicago. Colleges demand “safe zones” where minority students feel free to refuse entry to anyone deemed “white.” And “white privilege” is a term to cause wonder to an anglo-saxon child of the middle class working his or her way through school to obtain that Bachelors or Masters or even Doctorate degree but facing a quarter of a million dollar debt on graduation.
American Indians, it is hard to call them “native Americans” since they came across the Bering Sea land bridge to displace civilizations from the Mound Builders of the Mississippian era to the Anasazi in their cliff dwellings, represent a special case. When white Europeans arrived on the North American continent they found that it was populated, albeit by a culture foreign to their own. The American Indians tended to be hunter-gatherer societies with little concept of “ownership” of the land. Relying on the History Channel (2009) again for an overview, first contact was with the northeastern Indians, the Iriquoian tribes. Fishing villages along the coast and rivers were semi-permanent, crops were grown. As with all “hunter gatherer” societies the diet tended to be what could be grown or gathered occasionally supplemented with meat from the hunt.
The story of the First Thanksgiving shows early relations as reasonably peaceful. But the ever increasing numbers of white Europeans, combined with their superior technology led to a slow spread westward. This led to inevitable conflicts as traditional hunting and fishing grounds were encroached upon by whites with their fences and plows and permanent settlements. The ax, cutting forests in their millions of acres, was the weapon that spelled the doom of these American Indian cultures.
The United States did not assimilate these people. Rather, they treated them as separate “nations” and made treaties with them. In successive waves treaties were made and then broken as white settlement spread westward. At each stage battles were fought, lives were lost and bitterness was spawned. The history of the colonies is replete with various “Indian Wars.” Ultimately, the solution was the reservation system where American Indians were removed wholesale to new places. The discovery of gold in Georgia triggered the infamous Trail of Tears as the Cherokee nations, some of the most civilized human beings then residing on the continent, were force marched to Oklahoma leaving thousands of dead behind them.
In a way, American Indians were treated with more respect than other groups. They were never chattel slaves. Nor were they relegated to the terrible conditions of urban slums and tenements. Instead they were treated as an enemy nation, to be defeated but, in defeat, offered the terms of a treaty of peace. This, of course, is a purely philosophical way of looking at the situation of the American Indian. The first biological attacks were made when the first Europeans landed and brought entirely new diseases for which the American Indians had no immunity. While this was accidental, at least at first, follow up attacks with, for example, cholera infected blankets issued to the Sioux as they were being relocated was a deliberate attack, the first weapon of mass destruction.
Interestingly, the American Indians have used their status as a “non-white” nation within a nation to their advantage. The nearly ubiquitous casinos located on reservations attest to the tribes identifying and exploiting an opportunity. Tribes retain their identity and Federal funds are often set aside for programs and projects to be developed and administered by the tribes.
In sum then, the issue of “whiteness” seems relevant primarily as it relates to black and Mexican minorities. The term Hispanic or “brown” encompasses too much area to be of much use outside of newspaper headlines. The issue of whiteness, as it relates to “brown” is almost entirely a function of a culture clash between the Mexicans who have recently immigrated and retain their allegiance to their flag and language, and the “whites” who see them as invaders. As it relates to blacks, the term “white privilege” seems to be a rallying cry. The reality, though, is that American English remains the language of commerce and when learning to speak it well, with proper grammar and a solid vocabulary is condemned by the culture as “too white” it is difficult to see a solution.
References:
Davis, F. James (1991). Who is Black? One Nation’s Definition. Penn State University Press. Excerpt retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mixed/onedrop.html
Bulik, Mark (2015). 1854: No Irish Need Apply. New York Times (September 8, 2015) Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/08/insider/1854-no-irish-need-apply.html?_r=0
Mokyr, Joel (2016). Great Famine: Irish History. Encyclopedia Britannica (January 28, 2016) Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Famine-Irish-history
Daniels, Jesse (2010). Irish Americans, Racism and the Pursuit of Whiteness. Racism Review. (March 17, 2010). Retrieved from http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2010/03/17/irish-americans-racism-and-the-pursuit-of-whiteness/
Rapczynski, Joan (1993). The Italian Immigrant Experience in America (1870-1920). Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 2016. Retrieved from http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1999/3/99.03.06.x.html
Molnar, Alexandra (2010). From Europe to America, Immigration Through Family Tales. (December 15, 2010). Retrieved from https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~molna22a/classweb/politics/Italianhistory.html
Gates, Henry Louis Junior (2014). How Many Slaves Landed In The US? The Root (January 6, 2014).
Retrieved from http://www.theroot.com/articles/history/2014/01/how_many_slaves_came_to_america_fact_vs_fiction/
History.com Staff (2009). Plessy v. Ferguson. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/plessy-v-ferguson
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Staff. History – Brown v Board of Education Re-enactment. Retrieved from http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/history-brown-v-board-education-re-enactment
History.com Staff (2009). Native American Cultures. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/native-american-cultures
