Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States[1] spends a substantial amount of time analyzing the use of racism as a system of control over both the enslaved population and the poor white lower class, essentially manifesting itself as a conscious effort on the part of the rich white upper class to use class warfare in order to maintain stability and to quell uprisings. To begin, Zinn introduces the origins of America's system of black slavery: necessity. In 1619, Virginians were hungry, unable to grow enough food but made aware of tobacco's value on the other side of the Atlantic, unable to enslave the Native Americans, unable to force white servants to work the necessary amounts and unwilling to work themselves. Thus they resorted to slave labor, in the form of blacks shipped in from Africa, prior to any attempts at a justification from the argument of inferiority that the ideology of racism presents.
Zinn is careful to make clear that slaves were imported for inhumane treatment before the racist justification sprung up, noting that, by 1619, a million blacks had already been brought to South and Central America to work as slaves.[2] The counterpoint to this is that whites were also “imported” as indentured servants and abused, so the malignant treatment of blacks was a general one and had little to do with their skin color and/or origin. The reason for the black people's selection for chattel slavery over Native Americans and whites is further expounded upon; they are entirely out of their element with no structure to support them. Slavery thus begins in colonial America simply as a matter of convenience and the quest for profit. This, however, is not how it ends.
This brief summary of black slavery aside, the plight of white indentured servants should be discussed on nearly equal grounds, both for moral reasons and those of context. Masters were allowed to beat, whip and rape their servants, pack them like sardines into ships on their voyage to America, restrict their marriages, and generally treat them as if they were slaves.[3] Black slaves and white servants would spend their free time together, whether it for recreational (drinking, coitus, etc) purposes or for attempts at escape. This growing unity between the enslaved blacks and indentured whites led to fears among the upper class, who were dangerously outnumbered by the lower class and eventually, in steadily more regions, by both the white servants and black slaves individually. Clearly, this represented a significant chunk of the population with nearly identical goals and, essentially, nothing to lose and thus revolts did occur, the upper class was scared and measures had to be taken.
It is this similarity to slaves that necessitated the creation of a division between the two groups, both submerged in poverty. One of the most blatant examples of manipulation is the employment of poor whites to handle blacks, such as in the case of Virginia's slave patrols in the 1720's.[4] Not to be excluded, the Native American people were used against the black population as well, as the Creeks and Cherokees earlier had "harbored runaway slaves by the hundreds," [5] which was, obviously, impermissible. Instead, a "combination of harsh slave codes and bribes" helped avert that potentially disastrous union.
Interracial marriages and pregnancies were common and, therefore, a problem. Had there “been the natural racial repugnance that some theorists have assumed, control would have been easier.” Since it wasn’t quite so easy, a grand jury, in 1743, “denounced ‘The Too Common Practice of Criminal Conversation with Negro and other Slave Wenches in this Province,’” As a result of this and other rulings, interracial marriages were prohibited and the offspring was deemed illegitimate. This resulted in the mixed race offspring being “stuck” with the colored label and the white parent remaining purely white, promoting the perceived purity of the white race. [6]
As evidence of Zinn's agreement with the notion of racism being used as a method of control over the lower classes, both those innocently perpetuating it and those suffering at its hands, he agreeably quotes Edmund Morgan who "sees racism not as 'natural' to black-white difference,” because of the earlier evidence of their fellowship, “but something coming out of class scorn, a realistic device for control." In addition, Morgan's own words are included; "If freemen with disappointed hopes should make common cause with slaves of desperate hope, the results might be worse than anything Bacon['s rebellion] had done. The answer to the problem, obvious if unspoken and only gradually recognized, was racism, to separate dangerous free whites from dangerous black slaves by a screen of racial contempt." [7][8] Bacon’s rebellion met its end with surrender, having a total roster of “‘four hundred English and Negroes in Armes’ at one garrison, and three hundred ‘freemen and African and English bond-servants” at another garrison,” positive proof of rebellion cooperation between indentured whites and enslaved blacks, with disastrous consequences. [9] Years later, further proof came about; naval impressments sparked a riot in Boston, described by a merchant’s group as a “Riotous Tumultuous Assembly of Foreign Seamen, Servants, Negroes, and other Person’s of mean and Vile Condition.” [10]
This proof, the immediate danger that presented itself so clearly to the upper class, forced the implementation of racist ideology as a method of oppression and division, occupying the minds and efforts of the poor whites rather than allowing them the possibility of successful revolt. Zinn covers the subject and inclusion of racist ideology into colonial America’s class warfare as part of his greater discussion focusing on the upper class’ efforts against the lower class, whites, blacks and every shade in between included. Our own course included Barbara Fields’ argument for racism as an ideology, focusing strongly on its present form and the practical aspects of it being an ideology, while Zinn’s additions provide the background info for its inception and the circumstances surrounding it, the perfect supplement.
[1] Howard Zinn. A People's History of the United States: 1492 - Present. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1995.
[2] Zinn, 25
[3] Zinn, 43-44
[4] Zinn, 56
[5] Zinn, 55
[6] Zinn, 55
[7] Zinn, 56 Note: Zinn quotes Edmund Morgan
[8] Edward S Morgan. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. New York: W. W. Norton, 1975 (Taken from Zinn’s bibliography)
[9] Zinn, 55
[10] Zinn, 51
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