Module: HST5317 Race in the US: Slavery to Civil Rights -Take Home Exam
By: Emilia Kent
America has a long and brutal history of racial inequality, beginning with the enslavement of millions of African Americans and continuing until present day with issues over police brutality. As African Americans have consistently been some of the poorest members of American society, it produces the question of how racism is linked to class inequalities which continue to oppress black people. This connection is aptly summarised by Barbara Fields in Racecraft, as she argues that ‘racist concepts do considerable work in political and economic life; but, if they were merely an appendage of politics and economics, without economic roots in other phases of life, their persuasiveness would accordingly diminish.’ This argument is important as it contributes to the idea that racism has gained its place in American history not by mistake but consciously as a result of elitism and a desire to further the capitalist goal, which this essay will be arguing. Class inequality produced and maintains racial inequalities as they both work towards the same goal: to continue the system of capitalism. In arguing this, this essay will discuss slavery, reconstruction, World War II and the Civil Rights Movements of the 1960s and 1970s.
Some revisionist historians have attributed slavery in America to the deep rooted racism that was pervasive at the time; although racism supported the continuation of slavery, it was not necessarily the cause of it. Racism being the cause for slavery relies on it being an entirely paternalistic system when it was in actual fact a capitalistic system, created to provide free labour. Walter Johnson refers to the capitalist aspect of slavery in Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market within his description of the ‘Chattel Principle’, which he describes as the idea that ‘though they were seldom priced, slaves’ values always hung over their heads’. The Chattel Principle refers to the idea that although slavery was often justified at the time by paternalism (the idea that slavery was necessary and actually kind to the enslaved as it helped them to become civilised), it was inherently a capitalistic system as the enslaved were consistently aware of their economic value in society. Paternalism is an entirely racist, outdated idea to help justify the evils of slavery. This is viewed explicitly in “The happiest labouring class in the world”: two Virginia slaveholders debate methods of slave management, published in 1837, where one of the slaveholders states that ‘it greatly impairs the happiness of a negro, to be allowed to cultivate an insubordinate temper. Unconditional submission is the only footing upon which slavery should be placed. It is precisely similar to the attitude of a minor to his parent.’ The language used here, by associating the relationship between the slave and the master with a child and a parent, displays the common feeling held by slaveholders at the time that they were aiding the slave by enslaving them. This is an example of how racist theories (such as paternalism) were created to justify slavery.
However, this was not an inherent idea, but rather one that was consciously created to justify the terrible treatment of the enslaved people in order to gain free labour as a means of production to fuel the American economy. In the 17th century, white indentured servants were used as another form of cheap labour and had a similar status in society to African American slaves. It is clear from this that slavery was not necessarily an entirely racialised concept until after the American Revolution, when a reason for African Americans not being considered equal was necessary, due to the Declaration of Independence being produced on the idea that every American had ‘certain unalienable rights.’ This presents the transition from class inequality to slavery being based more on racial inequality as the slaveholders and authorities generated racist ideas about the supposed inferiority of black people in order to continue exploiting them for labour.
Slavery was not the only period in American history in which racial inequalities were consciously implemented by the white elite in order to serve a broader capitalistic goal as this system was repeated during reconstruction. After slavery had been abolished in the American Civil War, it at first appeared that African Americans would gain more rights and equality. Throughout the period of 1867-1877, Congressional reconstruction provided for the formerly enslaved, through acts such as the 14th amendment to the constitution in 1868 which gave African Americans citizenship and guaranteed that no state could ‘deprive any person of life, liberty, or property.’ This was incredibly important for African Americans as it also gave them equal protection under the law and seemed to suggest that reconstruction had brought about a new era in American history. However, this resulted in previous elite slaveholders being removed from their positions of power in the South, resulting in a backlash of terrorism which reinstated these white elites to their formed positions. Once back in power, the ‘Jim Crow’ laws were put in place, segregating black people and instilling once again a sense of white superiority. This can be viewed through a letter to the Freedmen’s Bureau from Southern African Americans asking for the right to vote because they were ‘afraid of those who are naturally prejudiced against us.’ This makes it clear that African Americans were denied the same rights as white people because it would have allowed them to vote for people who would give more priority to labourers, which the white elites did not want. As a result of this, although poor white workers and black workers had similar financial situations, segregation meant that they viewed each other as competition.
W.E.B. Du Bois’ suggested that the common system of people with similar financial situations feeling somewhat united did not happen in the South because ‘the theory of race was supplemented by a carefully planned and slowly evolved method, which drove such a wedge between the white and black workers’. This theory is important as it demonstrates that the class divisions already existed after Reconstruction, but the racial divisions were purposely implemented to ensure that the elites remained in power. DuBois supports this further by arguing that this was able to happen because of the success of segregation for the white elites as it kept white and black workers “so far apart that neither sees anything of common interest”. This allowed the white elites to continue a system by which both the white and black labourers received low wages, but as a result of segregation, were unable to realise this and unite to ask for more. Instead, segregation and purposeful racial divisions were successful in supporting class inequalities and inducing them to consider each other as the competition, thus fostering a hostile spirit.
After World War II and the Great Migration, the link between racial inequalities and class inequalities became particularly explicit through the average living conditions of African Americans. The Great Migration began in 1915 and involved the mass migration of African Americans from South America to North America, particularly to cities such as Chicago. Whilst this saw the growth of ‘black identity’ through movements such as the Harlem Renaissance, it also resulted in abject poverty, as American society continued to discriminate against African Americans with regards to housing and other areas of public life. World War II exacerbated this as supplies and money were almost exclusively being poured into the war effort resulting in, as Preston H Smith states, ‘overcrowding… with the average black household in 1934 consisting of 6.8 persons, compared with the average white household of 4.7 persons.’ Smith’s argument is important as by drawing a distinction between social and racial democracy, he highlights that, although African Americans in the North weren’t always suffering from the predominantly white, mob violence that was pervasive in the South, they were still oppressed financially. Smith accurately emphasises that during this period, whites ‘made an “emotional” association between race and neighbourhood deterioration. If they understood the situation rationally, they would recognise that segregation restricted the supply of adequate housing, which in turn caused overcrowding and subsequent physical and social deterioration in black-occupied areas.’
This ‘emotional association’ was consistently supported by the Federal Housing Administration through segregative measures, such as the fact that house prices would go down on an all-white neighbourhood if other racial groups moved in. This perpetuated racist ideas within US society after World War II, as it resulted in white people wanting to remain separate from black people in order to maintain their house prices. Subsidised housing projects, which were cheaper to rent and therefore often occupied by African Americans who could not attain high paying jobs, were placed in isolated areas that were perhaps not accessible by public transport in order to crystallise this division further. In a manner similar to the methods used during reconstruction, segregation served the capitalist system in America because it stopped white and black labourers uniting over their shared exploitation. Continuing the racist rhetoric, in order to deepen class inequalities, served American business by guaranteeing competition between workers, thus allowing them to maintain low wages because people were not financially stable enough to demand more.
The connection between class inequality and racial inequality became the focus of media attention in the 1960s and 1970s as key figures such as Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X highlighted the link between poverty and racism. The Black Panther Party particularly, for example, began advocating for better quality of life for African Americans across the country. Premilla Nadasen stated that for the Black Panther party, ‘“the man” became a shorthand reference not only for white power but for the political, social, and economic control of black communities. It connoted a system in which black people were marginalised and disempowered’. Nadasen recognises in her argument that in the late 1960s and 1970s, leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were giving priority to the idea that although individual acts of racist violence must be countered, they could not be stopped until the broader root of racism in America had been addressed. The root of this violence was the perpetuation of racist ideas by the authorities, designed to keep African Americans, and the working class in general, at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
These racist ideas were continued through the exploitation of African Americans and their oppression within the public sector resulting in cycles of poverty. A. Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King Jr planned to address this poverty through ‘The Freedom Budget’, which was created in 1965 and planned a change in the American economy to stop it from exploiting all people in poverty, including white and black people. In 1966, A. Philip Randolph stated that ‘these forces have not come together to demand help for the Negro. Rather, we meet on a common ground of determination that in this, the richest and most productive society ever known to man, the scourge of poverty can and must be abolished’. Randolph recognised that the root of racism was class inequalities encouraged by capitalist leaders. This is reminiscent of DuBois’ ideas on social democracy and how it is the only route to achieving racial equality. Ultimately, it is clear from the actions of key civil rights leaders in the 1960s and 1970s that the priorities of the civil rights movement were changing as they began to emphasise that racial inequalities were borne out of a need for class inequalities to fuel the capitalist system.
To conclude, America’s racial inequalities have consistently been tied to class inequalities throughout history, as they are both created by a desire of the American elite to have consistent cheap labour. This materialised with the forced racialisation of slavery, in order to justify the institution, despite the founders claiming that America was a country based on ‘freedom’ within the Declaration of Independence. The methods used to racialise society were mirrored directly in reconstruction with the Southern white elite reclaiming power through actively segregating the working class along racial boundaries, to stop them uniting and threatening the hierarchy. In the 20th century, the roots of racist ideologies had already been planted so the methods of linking class inequality and racial inequality were more subtle. However, it is clear from the monopoly of white people in power and the overall poor living conditions of African Americans (with 55% of African Americans below the poverty line in the 1970s), that the same issues persisted. Key figures such as A. Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King Jr highlighted these issues through the Freedom Budget, which aimed to improve the living conditions of both the black and white working class and ultimately unite them. Therefore, racial inequality has consistently been purposely used by the elite throughout American history to oppress African Americans and create a class divide between the black and white working class. Ultimately, racial and class inequality are both tools by which the American elite ensured the continuation of cheap labour.
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