Session 3:
Materials
Race as we know it today (related to phenotype) is a recent invention in history. The specific circumstances, causes and conditions of this invention are very significant and are still impacting us today.
1) Community Agreements
We welcome your on-going edits and comments to the Community Agreements (click back or go here). Based on your input, we made some updates.
2) Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North
Please watch this documentary about the Atlantic Slave Trade through the lens of a white family from New England.
The documentary is 1.5 hours and costs $8 to rent: the link is here.
2) The History of ‘White People’
Short option:
The History of White People (9 min)
Note: Although this is framed as the “American” invention of race, this is also the story of a British colony under British rule.
The role of three philosophers in the development of racecraft: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Adam Smith, interview with Joel Edward Goza (12 min)
Longer optional add-on:
Birth of a White Nation by Jacqueline Battalora (36 min - lecture that covers similar material as the 9 min animated video above, with more detail on the legal and gender dimension of the story, and at a slower pace!).
Tim Wise shows how the invention of race in the late 1600s got re-enacted in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (9 min)
Additional Resources (optional)
The Power of an Illusion clip (on genetics and race 6 min)
Longer documentary series for rent here.
The Origin of Race (10 min)
Full animated Series on the History of White People
The Surprisingly Racist History of "Caucasian" (4 min)
Listening to the actual voices of formerly enslaved people talk about their experience (10 min)
White - A Historical Video Essay on Race and Identity (14 min) - This includes similar content but addresses in more detail when/how Germans, Irish, Russians and other non-English Europeans became “white.”
Crania Americana the most important book in the history of scientific racism also highlights US / UK cooperation (8 min)
Talk with Joel Edward Goza (beyond short interview above) on America’s Unholy Ghosts. This goes deeper on the role of Christianity and its articulation with capitalism (14 min)