"Race is our 'American obsession'" – Studs Terkel
"Mr. Jefferson's remarks respecting us have sunk deep into the hearts of millions of whites, and never will be removed this side of eternity."
– David Walker, 1829
"What is identified as the problem determines the frame of rhetoric and solutions sought."
– James Loewen
Gone With the Wind, we watched that film in our 7th grade history class. It was long, but we thought it was great, perhaps not because of the content but the freedom from class lecture. We got to eat snacks to boot! Little did we know while eating Cheese-its and Handy-Snaks we were also ingesting the Magnolia myth, and the Confederate myth of Reconstruction. I think Loewen does not overstate when he writes, "The struggle over racial slavery may be the predominant theme in American history."(Loewen, 137) Slavery may be finished in our land, but what of the mindset that allowed and even approved of slavery?
The terms 'social structure' and 'superstructure' are introduced in chapter five. Slavery as the social structure has been abolished, but the superstructure of white superiority and black inferiority is still alive and well in many places! Racism still manacles the 'inferior' black person politically, socially, economically, and mentally. How will racism be abolished? How do we dismantle the superstructure of white superiority in America?
The author of the book proclaims that in his survey of modern history textbooks, not one of them connected history and racism. Instead of exposing racism, textbooks model it! (Loewen, 145) In this point, Loewen is really starting to hit close to home. The issue of Columbus and the discovery of America is important, but not in people's daily lives. The issues concerning our treatment of and history with native Americans hits closer, yet most Americans are still not confronted with American indians on a regular basis. But, this last issue of black/white history and race relations hits home for almost all Americans. If we are not in contact with African Americans in some way, it is most likely because of our own choosing, precipitated by racist thinking.
As a white American, I have had African American friends tell me that they still feel prejudice and oppression. At first, I thought they were being oversensitive. They told me that I could not see it because I was in the majority, and was not experiencing prejudice. Over time, I have become more aware and begun to notice at times the manner and ways in which I have been received by people and the way my African American friends have been treated by the same people. Yet, I also noticed that my friends were not always themselves around certain people either. It's as if the prejudice of some people causes others to react in the way they expected.
I am a product of mainstream American education, and I did not see my own prejudice. Because racism is made invisible in history, those in the majority don't notice it, or worse, believe that it exists today. We, white Americans, only see the social structure and say, "Hey man, slavery is abolished, get over it!" Yet, the African American population and other minorities are still experiencing and feeling the affects of the superstructure which is still in place. What a mess we have inherited! :(
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Freedman's_bureau.jpg
Big Question: In what ways has the superstructure of American culture been formed by Thomas Jefferson and other early founder's words and actions? If what is identified as the problem determines the frame of rhetoric and thought, how do we teach our students and ourselves to identify the correct problems?
Link: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/neh/interactives/reconstruction/
This site is an interactive page split into two parts, the South before Reconstruction and the South after Reconstruction.
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