Source: Dr. Siri Brown, UC Berkeley
Tags: social construction of race, racial formation, Blumenbach, race classifications, indentured servitude, Bacon's Rebellion, slave codes, chattel slavery, whiteness, one drop rule, miscegenation, scientific racism, racial binary, 1790 Naturalization Act, Thomas theorem
Race is not a biological given but a social construction, built through human interaction, law, and power. The lecture traces how the American colonies shifted from a class-based system to a race-based one between 1607 and 1690, through a series of laws, economic pressures, and political events. Whiteness and Blackness were constructed together, each giving meaning to the other, and both were codified into law with lasting consequences.
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach (1752–1840)
German naturalist, first to study mankind as an aspect of natural history. Applied comparative anatomy to classify five "human races": Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Negroid, American. He did not rank them as superior or inferior (though he called Indigenous peoples "savages"). He acknowledged African capacity in science and the arts. Later naturalists distorted his classifications into hierarchical craniometry studies.
Craniometry / scientific racism
The use of skull measurements and other pseudo-scientific methods to justify a racial hierarchy. Emerged in the 1800s, building on (and distorting) Blumenbach's classification system. Studies were not free from bias and were used to advocate for racist policies.
Indentured servitude
A labour contract offering land ownership in exchange for a period of service. Appealed to poor white Englishmen. In early colonial America, class divisions were significant but racial divisions were slight: poor whites and Africans occupied roughly the same class level.
Chattel slavery
The system of slavery (roughly 1660s–1710 and beyond) in which enslaved people were treated as personal property. Defined by slave codes that stripped all rights from Black people.
Slave codes
Laws restricting the rights of Black people under chattel slavery. If you were Black, you could not: testify against whites, own property, leave without a pass, congregate in groups of 3–5, sign contracts, marry, bear arms, among other prohibitions.
One drop rule
The legal and social principle that any African ancestry, no matter how small, classified a person as Black. Related classifications: Mulatto (half Black, half white), Quadroon (one-quarter Black), Octoroon (one-eighth Black), all considered Black under this rule.
Bacon's Rebellion (1676)
A class-based armed rebellion by Nathaniel Bacon and Black and white indentured servants against Governor Berkeley, who had failed to grant promised land. After the rebellion, the government enacted clear segregation laws, giving poor whites more rights and a sense of superiority over Black people. This was a turning point from class-based to race-based social stratification.
Racial formation
The process by which race is socially constructed and continually redefined through competing societal forces. Race is not a residue of some other social phenomenon; it stands on its own as an amalgamation of human interaction, law, economics, and politics. (Lopez)
Racial binary
The idea that whiteness and Blackness have been constructed at the same time, hinged together. You cannot define what "Black" means without defining what "white" means, and vice versa. While the US racial landscape includes Asian, Hispanic, and Native peoples, the Black-white binary has dominated American racial thinking.
Scientific racism
Any publication or propaganda using the appearance of science to support a racist paradigm. Includes cranial studies, IQ claims, and written declarations by figures such as David Hume, Voltaire, Arnold Toynbee, and John Burgess, all of whom asserted Black inferiority as though it were fact.
White privilege
The concept that whiteness confers advantages that are often invisible to white people. It is difficult to see racism when you benefit from the system.
1790 Naturalization Act
Restricted citizenship by naturalisation to "free white persons" only (effectively: white, Christian/Protestant) after two years in the US.
Thomas theorem (paraphrased by Teresa Guess)
"If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences." Applied to race: whiteness is socially constructed (not genetically real), but because people and governments treat it as real, it produces real consequences in economics, law, and social life.
Blumenbach's five-race classification (Caucasian, Mongolian, Malayan, Negroid, American) is the origin of racial typology in Western science
He did not create a hierarchy, but subsequent naturalists in the 1800s built one using craniometry
These studies were biased and served to justify existing racial prejudices
Race-based slavery did not begin with US history; the Portuguese and other Europeans established it in South America and the Caribbean in the 1500s
1607: Jamestown founded
1619: First Africans brought to Virginia as indentured servants, marking Black presence from the very beginning of US history
Early colonial America had significant class divisions but only slight racial divisions
Poor whites and Africans occupied similar economic positions
Between 1650 and 1690, laws and political events shifted the US from a class-based system to a race-based one
Anthony Johnson: kidnapped African, arrived 1621 as an indentured servant
Gained freedom, married, became a respected community member, owned 270 acres, had his own indentured servants, signed legal documents
Upon his death in 1670, white neighbours contested his family's inheritance
Court ruled: "as a black man, Anthony Johnson was not a citizen of the colony"
Illustrates the progressive stripping of rights from Black people regardless of their lived status
Class-based rebellion: poor Black and white indentured servants united against Governor Berkeley, who had not granted promised land
The government recognised the danger of Black and white people sharing a class identity and opposing the state together
Response: clear segregation laws enacted, poor whites given more rights than Black people, creating a racial wedge between groups that had previously been allies
1661: Black servants serve for life (enslavement made permanent)
1662: "The status of the child follows that of the mother" (for Black women only)
Reversed European patrilineal norms: a white man's child by a Black woman became a slave
White men could rape enslaved women with no legal consequence and economic benefit (the child became additional labour)
Fornication laws: a white person committing "fornication with a negro" paid double the fine compared to the same act with a white person, though the legal system, run by white men, rarely fined white men for raping Black women
1671: 5% Black population
1700: 20% Black population
Imported Africans by decade: 9,000 (1701–1710), 10,800 (1711–1729), 40,500 (1731–1740), 58,500 (1741–1750), 69,500 (1761–1770)
South Carolina was 50–60% Black during this period, reflecting the scale of the enslaved labour force
Virginia and Maryland relied on tobacco; the Carolinas relied on rice (importing West Africans skilled in rice cultivation)
The Stono Revolt: the largest slave uprising, occurred in South Carolina
Slave codes removed virtually all rights from Black people
The one drop rule and related classifications (Mulatto, Quadroon, Octoroon) ensured that any African ancestry placed a person in the category of "Black"
Social status and privilege were determined by race first, then by other factors
By 1604, the English use the term "white"
By the end of the 1600s, it references those of European descent
The progression: "Christian" to "English" to "Free" to "White"
Whiteness and Blackness are co-dependent constructs: you cannot have the social construct of Blackness without whiteness; slavery has no meaning without freedom; stereotypes have no meaning unless whiteness is also defined
Three-Fifths Clause: enslaved people counted as three-fifths of a person for representation
Fugitive slave provisions: mandated return of runaway slaves
Slave trade permitted to continue until 1808 (and in practice beyond, until the Civil War)
Militias authorised to suppress slave rebellions (an early form of policing in the US)
1790 Naturalization Act: citizenship by naturalisation restricted to "free white persons" only
Human interaction (not abstract forces) produces races
Race is part of a whole social fabric that includes gender and class
The meaning-systems surrounding race change quickly, not slowly (e.g. the "model minority" concept for Asians shifted rapidly for political reasons)
Races are constructed relationally, against one another, not in isolation
David Hume: claimed Black people were "naturally inferior to the white"
Voltaire: compared Black people to a different species and called their intelligence "very much inferior"
Arnold Toynbee: claimed the "black race" had made no creative contribution to civilisation
John Burgess: claimed "black skin means membership in a race of men which has never created a civilization of any kind"
Indigenous Americans were classified as "civilizable savages," in contrast to Black Africans, who were deemed simply "savages" requiring enslavement
This distinction shaped different (though both oppressive) policy approaches
⚠️ The shift from class-based to race-based stratification (1607–1690) is a central narrative of this lecture. Be prepared to trace the key events and laws.
⚠️ Bacon's Rebellion (1676) is a critical turning point: know why the government responded with racial segregation laws.
⚠️ The 1662 law ("status of the child follows that of the mother") reversed European patrilineal norms and had enormous economic and social consequences. Understand the logic behind it.
⚠️ Know the four facets of the social construction of race (Lopez) and be able to apply them to examples.
⚠️ The Thomas theorem applied to race: whiteness is simultaneously "real" (in its social, legal, and economic consequences) and "not real" (not genetically grounded). This duality is a key concept.
⚠️ The Anthony Johnson case illustrates how a Black man could hold full citizenship rights, only to have them revoked posthumously as race-based law solidified.
⚠️ Be able to distinguish Blumenbach's original classifications from the hierarchical craniometry that followed. He did not rank races, but his successors did.
Q: What does it mean to say race is a "social construction"?
A: Race is produced by human interaction, law, and power rather than by natural or biological differentiation. It is an amalgamation of competing societal forces that is continually redefined. Race is both "real" (in its social, legal, and economic consequences) and "not real" (it has no firm genetic basis).
Q: How did Bacon's Rebellion (1676) contribute to the shift from class-based to race-based stratification?
A: Bacon's Rebellion united poor Black and white indentured servants against the colonial government. The government recognised the threat of cross-racial class solidarity and responded by enacting segregation laws that gave poor whites more rights and a sense of superiority over Black people. This drove a racial wedge between groups that had previously shared a class identity.
Q: What was the significance of the 1662 Virginia law stating "the status of the child follows that of the mother"?
A: It reversed European patrilineal norms so that a child born to a Black woman inherited her enslaved status, regardless of the father's race. This meant white men could father children by enslaved women with no legal consequence and with economic benefit, as each child became additional enslaved labour.
Q: What are the four facets of the social construction of race?
A: (1) Human interaction, not abstract forces, produces races. (2) Race is part of a whole social fabric including gender and class. (3) The meanings attached to race change quickly, not slowly. (4) Races are constructed relationally, against one another, not in isolation.
Q: How does the concept of whiteness depend on the concept of Blackness?
A: Whiteness and Blackness were constructed together as co-dependent categories. Slavery has no meaning without the concept of freedom; stereotypes about Black people have no meaning unless whiteness is also defined. You cannot have the social construct of Blackness without whiteness.
Q: What was the 1790 Naturalization Act and why is it significant?
A: It restricted citizenship by naturalisation to "free white persons" only, effectively limiting citizenship to white, Christian/Protestant individuals. It codified whiteness as a legal requirement for full membership in the nation.
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