Student Social Action Against Racism
Definition
What is race?
-race was originally used as we use the term “ethnicity” today
-race is a social construction, it has meaning because society and culture have given it meaning (Class notes)
-race is a social category defined on the basis of shared physical and biological characteristics (skin color, hair texture, stature, eye shape, facial features, etc.)
-race is endlessly contingent, varies widely over time and place
-modern racism is based on a concept of race developed during 19th century:
1. Differences in physical characteristics among people express different subspecies of humankind- physical difference has always existed
2. These subspecies are inherently and substantially different from one another- hierarchy, justification for more power -ex. Slavery (primarily religious literature that appear to justify slavery of Africans)
3. These subspecies are hierarchically arranged fro superior to inferior in intelligence, virtue, and other capabilities
4. Race is essential to explaining and predicting human behavior, morality, and intellectual and physical capacities (American Studies class notes)
“Racism” the belief that one’s own race is superior to others, and that members of other races should be treated differently.” (pg.xxvi, Harlem Renaissance)
History
Big movements
Harlem Renaissance
“Harlem Renaissance: popular name for the blossoming of African American culture- including literature, drama, music, visual arts, and journalism- that took place between the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression. Also called the New Negro Movement.” (pg. xxiii) “one of the issues that had come to disturb Harlem residents was the fact that few of the many white-owned businesses in Harlem, whose profits came from black customers, hired black employees, particularly in positions of responsibility.” (pg.145)
“In the end, three blacks were killed, thirty were injured, and more than one hundred were jailed; the approximately 20,000 participants had caused a two-million-dollar loss to white-owned commercial property.” (pg.145)
“…the Black Power Movement, which sought to liberate blacks from social, political, and economic oppression…” (pg.118, Rereading the Harlem Renaissance)
Another big movement…
Civil Rights Movement along with Jim Crow Laws
“Jim Crow Laws: unfair laws that, in the Southern states from the post- Civil War period to the middle of the twentieth century, were used to keep African Americans from becoming full, equal citizens (an example is the segregation of public facilities, which meant that blacks could not use the same restrooms or drinking fountains as whites).” (pg. xxiii, Harlem Renaissance)
“Many African Americans, men in particular, refused to participate in nonviolent protests because they believed that passive resistance to white violence simply reproduced the same degrading rituals of domination and submission that suffered the master/slave relationship” (pg.3, The Deacons for Defense)
“Much of the popular history of the civil rights era rests on the myth of nonviolence: the perception that the movement achieved its goals through nonviolent direct action” (pg.5).
Anti-Racism Organizations
Alliance for Justice www.afj.org
National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME) www.nameorg.org
The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue (IISD)
www.sustaineddialogue.org
