From “Scientific” Racism to Local Histories of Lynching

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Discussion

The Mismeasure of Man

The chapter provides extensive evidence for the biological determinism that dominated white leadership in America. Gould (1981) cites numerous political leaders like Jefferson and Lincoln to show their discriminatory attitudes towards Black people. They justify Blacks’ alleged intellectual, emotional, and social inferiority as a natural consequence of their descent, putting white people in a position of power. The examples of such thinking made me realize that biological determinism, or finding false evidence for a race’s inferiority in pseudo-science, is extremely damaging and has been used for centuries to repress African-Americans.

Exploited in Life and Death, South African to Go Home

The article tells a story about an African woman, Saartkie Baartman, who was deceived into serving as living evidence of biological determinism in early 19th century Europe. Daley (2002) narrates how the woman was lured into the European freak circus and has been displayed to the public. Her unusual body and genital composition were non-consensually put on display both pre-and post-mortem and ridiculed as proof for the animal inferior nature of Blacks. Even after her death, her body parts were exhibited in a museum. This story is shocking since she was unofficially enslaved as a living spectacle of biological determinism, which reinforced the idea that White people are superior to others.

Lynch Law in Georgia, Chapter 2: Tortured and Burned Alive

The chapter narrates one of the lynching cases that happened in the United States as a result of racism. According to Wells (1899), a murderer Samuel Wilkes was on the run when the local press, Atlanta Constitution, started to publish follow-ups to the case and provoked people to unlawful punishment. The proposed burning of the suspect alive was mentioned and reinforced multiple times throughout numerous articles, which resulted in Hose’s actual lynching once he was found. This example shows that when fueled by the press and normalized in society, discrimination can reach the extremes of violence.

A Litany of Atlanta

This reading provides a unique example of the defense of the African-American population. Unlike many other thinkers of the time, Dubois (2020) brings up the religious and historical context of racial discrimination in America. He documents numerous cases related to the violence imposed onto the Black population and urges for a political and legal change to implement racial equality. Although the religious undertones make the litany appeal to the public, it still presents an unpopular argument for equality and the end of discrimination, which is surprising for the time.

Groundings with My Brothers: Chapter 1-2

Both chapters serve as a premise to the following arguments in the book, arguing that White power is still dominant in the contemporary world, and give context to the broader scale of oppression worldwide. What I found remarkable about this reading is that the author acknowledges not only the Black population as the most oppressed, but also addresses the discrimination that all non-whites like Asians and Latinos face. Rodney (2019) states that unless people are white, they are automatically considered “colored” or “black,” which denies them the opportunity to be equal in a predominantly white society. This concept is evident in the modern migration, housing, and law regulations, which proves that Roney’s point is valid and needs to be fought with Black power.

A Southern Woman’s View

The article narrates the anxieties that a regular Southern woman experienced and contrasts the beliefs of the South with the equality of the North. The author expresses her fear of Black men and their families and stresses the need for segregation due to inherent, fundamental discrepancies between White and Black people. Harris (1989) writes that no female is safe alone because she feels threatened by Black men. This historical article shows how the African-American population was villainized and labeled as animal-like without acknowledging that their social status could be the source of such criminal behavior. Ignorance and desperate seeking of justification of White power is apparent from the article and seems to be normalized for the historic period.

References

Daley, S. (2002). Exploited in life and death, South African to go home. New York Times. Web.

Dubois, W. E. B. (2020). A litany of Atlanta. In J. Benjamin (Ed.), Race and ethnicity: difference and decolonization (pp. 77-80). Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Gould, S. J. (1981). The Mismeasure of Man. Norton and Co.

Harris, C. (1898). A Southern woman’s view. The Independent, 1354-1355.

Rodney, W. (2019). Groundings with My Brothers. Verso Books.

Wells, I. B. (1899). Lynch law in Georgia: Tortured and burned alive. Hierographics.

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