Understanding the Evolution of Race

Early Definitions of Race

Historically, race wasn't always seen as a biological or genetic category.
Initially, race was a category of kinship or group affiliation, not tied to physical traits or behavior.
In the 16th century, "race" in English indicated membership in the same household or shared ancestry.

Shift due to global capitalism, slavery, colonialism, and the Enlightenment.
Spanish colonization post-1492 exploited Native populations for mining.
- Resulted in genocide and exposure to new diseases.
English colonies in Virginia mirrored this pattern but faced resistance.
- Turned to tobacco farming, requiring labor from enslaved Africans and indentured British laborers.
Differences between indentured servitude and African slavery:
- Indenture: contractual agreement, fixed terms.
- Slavery: lifelong, hereditary, non-contractual, dehumanizing.
Emergence of race as a pseudo-science to justify slavery during colonial expansion.

Enlightenment emphasized categorizing the natural world using reason.
Race was fitted into hierarchical systems to justify social norms like enslavement.
- Example: Thomas Jefferson and Samuel Cartwright used false claims to justify slavery.
Philosophers like Kant and Hegel suggested non-white groups had no history, devaluing them.

U.S. naturalization laws (1790) limited citizenship to "free white persons."
Laws perpetuated slavery and denied rights to Native Americans and prevented racial intermarriage.

Initially, "white" or "Caucasian" was not unified among all Europeans.
Over time, different European ethnicities were subsumed under "whiteness" to maintain a cultural majority.