Mixed Race Studies

The Long Shadow of the British Empire: The Ongoing Legacies of Race and Class in Zambia

Palgrave Macmillan
2012-01-03
304 pges
13.800 x 8.250 inches, includes 10 pgs illus
ISBN: 978-0-230-34018-3, ISBN10: 0-230-34018-0

Juliette Bridgette Milner-Thornton, Adjunct Research Fellow
Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

The Long Shadow of the British Empire explores the lived experiences of formerly colonized people in the privacy of their homes, communities, workplaces, and classrooms, and the associations they created from these social interactions and the enduring legacies of their relationships. It examines the centrality of gender and social identity in the formation of non-western people in the British Empire more generally and Northern Rhodesia specifically. Combining anthropological and autoethnographical historical methods, it describes the social, economic, political, and educational disadvantages Eurafricans—more commonly known as ‘Coloured’ in Zambia—were subjected to on account of their mixed heritage and the legacies of these racist practices in their present-day lives.

Table of Contents

• White Men’s Visitations
• The Long Shadow of the British Empire
• Bodily Inscriptions and Colonial Legitimizations
• The Half-Caste Education Debate
• Imperial Networks in a Transnational Context
• Coloreds’ Status in Northern Rhodesia
• The Fault of Our European Fathers
• To Be or Not to Be: Creating Coloredness in the 1950s

Anglo-Indian legacy slowly disappears in remote forest

The Brunei Times
2011-12-20

Ammu Kannampilly
Mccluskieganj, India

As India inched towards independence, hundreds of mixed-race Anglo-Indians feared for their future and retreated to a self-styled homeland in a thickly forested part of the country.

Ernest McCluskie, an Indian of Scottish descent established McCluskieganj in what is now the eastern state of Jharkhand, hoping to attract Anglo-Indians anxious about the impending demise of the British empire.

Nearly 80 years on, the few colonial bungalows still standing are in disrepair, the local economy survives on the back of a single school, and McCluskieganj’s ageing residents say the “chhotta England” (little England) they grew up in has vanished forever.

Anglo-Indians prospered under British rule with access to good jobs in the railways, armed forces or as customs officers…

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Public Mothers: Native American and Métis Women as Creole Mediators in the Nineteenth-Century Midwest

Journal of Women’s History
Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 2003
Special Issue: Revising the Experiences of Colonized Women: Beyond Binaries

Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, Professor of History
Ohio State University, Newark

During the early nineteenth century, the largely Francophone, mixed ancestry residents of the western Great Lakes region were faced with massive immigration of Anglophone whites who colonized the region, imposing a new U.S. government, economy, and legal system on the old Creole communities. Many of these immigrants from different cultural backgrounds in the eastern United States brought their prejudices and fears with them, attitudes that had the power to alienate and marginalize the old residents. This article explores the ways in which some women of color found techniques to mediate between cultural groups, using hospitality, charity, and health care to negotiate overlapping ideals of womanhood common to both Anglos and Native-descended people. In so doing, they won praise from both new and old neighbors, as they used Creole patterns of network-building to smooth community relations.

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Assimilation in Eighteenth-Century Senegal

John D. Hargreaves, Burnett-Fletcher Professor Emeritus of History
University of Aberdeen, Scotland

The Journal of African History
Volume 6, Number 2 (1965)
pages 177-184

Although historians are becoming more aware of the importance of communities of West Africans with experience of European education, institutions and culture, they have so far paid little attention to the earliest of these—the African and Afro-European inhabitants of French settlements in Senegal. Even the semantics are obscure; the term habitants has been used in various ways. In 1853 Abbe Boilat, a careful observer of Woloff ancestry, wrote that at St Louis it was applied to mulattoes; gourmets, that is noirs baptisés qui sont instruits et honorables par leur bonne conduite et leur rang dans la societe: and a few Muslim Negroes of high social standing. Eighteenth-century usage was equally confusing. A count of the population of St Louis in 1779 distinguished habitans et blancs from mulâtres et nègres libres; it may be that the term habitants originally meant free persons on the establishment of the French companies’ headquarters, which Barbot calls the habitation. (Echoes of the way the term was used in French Canada may also complicate the position.) In this paper habitants will be used in a wide sense, similar to Boilat’s, to include free persons of African or part-African descent, residing in the French settlements of St Louis (with its dependent trading posts in the Senegal Valley) and Gorée (with its dependent trading posts on the coasts south of Cape Verde) who had been influenced by contemporary French culture. The nature of this influence, and of the community thus in process of formation, will form the main subject of this paper. Its treatment is purely exploratory, and no attempt has yet been made to use French manuscript material. Further research might well suggest, among other modifications, a need to make clearer distinctions between St Louis and Gorée.

The habitant community seems to have been recruited in four main ways. In the first place successive French companies, and later the Royal administration, increasingly found it expedient to employ Africans. There were usually somewhere between 100 and 250 Frenchmen in the Senegalese ‘concession’, serving as traders, accountants, and officials: surgeons and chaplains: artisans, labourers, seamen and soldiers. But conditions of service were rarely attractive to men of talent or good character; Senegal was regarded as another Siberia, fit only for malefactors and libertines, and standards of competence and morality were usually low, except sometimes in the higher appointments. Moreover, Europeans were particularly liable to be put out of action by intestinal disorders, malaria or…

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Colonial Blackness: A History of Afro-Mexico

Indiana University Press
2009
248 pages
6.125 x 9.25
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-253-22331-9

Herman L. Bennett, Professor of Latin American History
City Univerisity of New York

Asking readers to imagine a history of Mexico narrated through the experiences of Africans and their descendants, this book offers a radical reconfiguration of Latin American history. Using ecclesiastical and inquisitorial records, Herman L. Bennett frames the history of Mexico around the private lives and liberty that Catholicism engendered among enslaved Africans and free blacks, who became majority populations soon after the Spanish conquest. The resulting history of 17th-century Mexico brings forth tantalizing personal and family dramas, body politics, and stories of lost virtue and sullen honor. By focusing on these phenomena among peoples of African descent, rather than the conventional history of Mexico with the narrative of slavery to freedom figured in, Colonial Blackness presents the colonial drama in all its untidy detail.

The Case of Loving v. Bigotry

The New York Times
2012-01-01

Julie Bosman

Photography by: Grey Villet

In 1958, Richard and Mildred Loving were arrested in a nighttime raid in their bedroom by the sheriff of Caroline County, Va. Their crime: being married to each other. The Lovings—Mildred, who was of African-American and Native American descent, and Richard, a bricklayer with a blond buzz cut—were ordered by a judge to leave Virginia for 25 years. In January, the International Center of Photography is mounting a show [2012-01-20 through 2012-05-06] of Grey Villet’s photographs of the couple in 1965. That exhibit is complemented by an HBO documentary, ‘‘The Loving Story,’’ directed by Nancy Buirski, which will be shown on HBO on Feb. 14…

Read the entire text and view the photographs here.

Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil

Duke University Press
1999
232 pages
9 tables
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8223-2272-6
Cloth ISBN: 978-0-8223-2252-8

Edited by

Michael Hanchard, Professor of Political Science and African American Studies
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

Bringing together U.S. and Brazilian scholars, as well as Afro-Brazilian political activists, Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil represents a significant advance in understanding the complexities of racial difference in contemporary Brazilian society. While previous scholarship on this subject has been largely confined to quantitative and statistical research, editor Michael Hanchard presents a qualitative perspective from a variety of disciplines, including history, sociology, political science, and cultural theory.

The contributors to Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil examine such topics as the legacy of slavery and its abolition, the historical impact of social movements, race-related violence, and the role of Afro-Brazilian activists in negotiating the cultural politics surrounding the issue of Brazilian national identity. These essays also provide comparisons of racial discrimination in the United States and Brazil, as well as an analysis of residential segregation in urban centers and its affect on the mobilization of blacks and browns. With a focus on racialized constructions of class and gender and sexuality, Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil reorients the direction of Brazilian studies, providing new insights into Brazilian culture, politics, and race relations.

This volume will be of importance to a wide cross section of scholars engaged with Brazil in particular, and Latin American studies in general. It will also appeal to those invested in the larger issues of political and social movements centered on the issue of race.

Table of Contents

• Introduction / Michael Hanchard
• Free African Brazilians and the State in Slavery Times / Richard Graham
• Black Cinderella? Race and the Public Sphere in Brazil / Michael Hanchard
• Ethnic Boundaries and Political Mobilization among African Brazilians: Comparisons with the U.S. Case / Edward E. Telles
• Racial Democracy and Racial Identity: Comparing the United States and Brazil / Howard Winant
• Miguel Reale and the Impact of Conservative Modernization on Brazilian Race Relations / Michael Mitchell
• Women and Racial Inequality at Work in Brazil / Peggy A. Lovell
• Notes on Racial and Political Inequality in Brazil / Carlos Hasenbalg and Nelson do Valle Silva
• The Black Movement and Political Parties: A Challenging Alliance / Benedita da Silva
• My Conscience, My Struggle / Thereza Santos
• Blacks and Political Power / Ivanir dos Santos
• Contributors
• Index

My Confederate Kinfolk: A Twenty-First Century Freedwoman Discovers Her Roots

Basic Civitas Books
2007-01-02
352 pages
Paperback ISBN: 9780465015740; ISBN-10: 0465015743

Thulani Davis

Starting from a photograph and writings left by her grandmother, acclaimed African-American novelist Thulani Davis goes looking for the “white folk” in her family, a Scots-Irish family of cotton planters unknown to her-and uncovers a history far richer and stranger than she had ever imagined. Her journey challenges us to examine the origins of some of our most deeply ingrained notions about what makes a family black or white, and offers an immensely compelling, intellectually challenging alternative.

Hypodescent: A history of the crystallization of the one-drop rule in the United States, 1880-1940

Princeton University
September 2011
383 pages
Publication Number: AAT 3480237
ISBN: 9781124939179

Scott Leon Washington

A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RECOMMENDED FOR ACCEPTANCE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

This dissertation examines the crystallization of the one-drop rule in the United States between 1880 and 1940. The “one-drop rule” is a colloquial expression, a phrase which reflects the belief that a person bearing a trace of African ancestry (literally, a single drop of black or Negro “blood”) is black. Historians and social scientists have tended to assume that, as a principle of classification, the one-drop rule can be traced back to the institution of slavery. This study provides a different account. Using a variety of methods, it attempts to explain how the one-drop rule developed, when it became institutionalized, and why. It also adopts a new approach to the study of race, ethnicity, and nationalism, an approach based largely although by no means exclusively on the work of Pierre Bourdieu. The study in its present form has been limited to five chapters. Chapter One explores the origins and development of the one-drop rule, while Chapter Two provides a detailed reading of the case of Plessy v. Ferguson. Chapter Three provides a quantitative account of the country’s history of anti-miscegenation legislation, while Chapter Four examines the role lynching played in the South as a means of social demarcation. The study ends in Chapter Five with a brief synopsis, an inquiry into the relationship between slavery and democracy, and a nonpartisan look at the legacy of the one-drop rule.

Contents

• Abstract
• Maps and Figures
• Tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• I. Introduction: A Prehistory of the Present
  • 1.1. An American Anomaly
  • 1.2. The Origins and Development of the One-Drop Rule
  • 1.3. An Outline of the Argument
  • 1.4. Words about Words
  • 1.5. References
• II. The Blood of Homer Plessy
  • 2.1. Introduction
  • 2.2. Digression: The Virtues of Virtual History
  • 2.3. The Wider Context
  • 2.4. Plessy v. Ferguson: Background Information
  • 2.5. The Tourgée Brief
  • 2.6. The Majority Opinion
  • 2.7. Counterfactual Scenario
  • 2.8. Plausibility Defense
  • 2.9. Conclusion
  • 2.10. References
• III. Crossing the Line
  • 3.1. Introduction
  • 3.2. A Brief History of Laws Prohibiting Interracial Sex and Marriage
  • 3.3. Trends in Anti-Miscegenation Activity
  • 3.4. Data and Methods
  • 3.5. Results
  • 3.6. Discussion
  • 3.7. Conclusion
  • 3.8. References
  • 3.9. Appendix
• IV. The Killing Fields Revisited: Lynching and Anti-Miscegenation Legislation in the Jim Crow South, 1882-1930
  • 4.1. Introduction
  • 4.2. Lynching: Background Information
  • 4.3. Anti-Miscegenation Legislation: Background Information
  • 4.4. The Strange Career of Judge Lynch: A Review of the Literature
  • 4.5. Data and Methods
  • 4.6. Results
  • 4.7. Discussion
  • 4.8. Conclusion
  • 4.9. References
• V. Conclusion: The Legacy of the One-Drop Rule
  • 5.1. Permanence and Change
  • 5.2. Synopsis
  • 5.3. Slavery and Democracy
  • 5.4. A Final Note
  • 5.5. References

Maps and Figures

• 3.1A. Colonies Prohibiting Interracial Sex or Marriage, 1776
• 3.1B. States and Territories, Prohibiting Interracial Sex or Marriage, 1861
• 3.1C. States and Territories, Prohibiting Interracial Sex or Marriage, 1877
• 3.1D. States Prohibiting Interracial Sex or Marriage, 1938
• 3.1E. States Prohibiting Interracial Sex or Marriage, 1967
• 3.2A. Anti-Miscegenation Activity, 1619-2000
• 3.2B. Anti-Miscegenation Activity, Excluding Significant Cases, 1619-2000
• 3.3A. Anti-Miscegenation Bills Defeated, 1913
• 3.3B. Anti-Miscegenation Bills Defeated, 1927
• 3.4A. Statutory Definitions, 1861
• 3.4B. Statutory Definitions, 1877
• 3.4C. Statutory Definitions, 1938
• 3.5A. Statutory Penalties, 1861
• 3.5B. Statutory Penalties, 1877
• 3.5C. Statutory Penalties, 1938
• 3.6. Punishments Against Secondary Parties, 1938
• 3.7. Racial Coverage of Laws Prohibiting Miscegenation, 1938
• 3.8. Appellate Litigation Concerning Definitions of Race, 1776-2000
• 3.9A-G. Severity of Definitions, 1880-1940
• 3.10A-G. Severity of Penalties, 1880-1940
• 4.1. Lynching and Anti-Miscegenation Legislation in the Jim Crow South, 1882-1930
• 4.2. Lynching and Anti-Miscegenation Legislation in the Jim Crow South, Integrated Trends, 1882-1930
• 4.3. The Moving Effects of Anti-Miscegenation Activity and the Constant Dollar Price for Cotton, 1882-1930
• 5.1. Percent of Americans Marrying Out of Race, 1970-2000
• 5.2A. Percent of Whites Marrying Out of Race, 1880-2000
• 5.2B. Percent of Blacks Marrying Out of Race, 1880-2000
• 5.3A. Percent of Whites Marrying Out of Race, Adjusting for Relative Numbers in the Population, 1880-2000
• 5.3B. Percent of Blacks Marrying Out of Race, Adjusting for Relative Numbers in the Population, 1880-2000
• 5.4. Percent within Categories Reporting Two or More Races, 2000

TABLES

• 1.1. The Longue Durée of the One-Drop Rule, 1619-2000
• 3.1. Percent of Colonies, Territories, and States Prohibiting Interracial Sex or Marriage, 1776-1967
• 3.2A. Anti-Miscegenation Activity, 1619-2000
• 3.2B. Anti-Miscegenation Activity, Excluding Significant Cases, 1619-2000
• 3.3A. Average Severity of Definitions, 1861, 1877, 1938
• 3.3B. Average Severity of Definitions, Excluding States without Definitions, 1861, 1877, 1938
• 3.4A. Average Severity of Penalties, 1861, 1877, 1938
• 3.4B. Average Severity of Penalties, Excluding States without Penalties, 1861, 1877, 1938
• 3.5. Expected Relationships
• 3.6. ARMA (1,1) Regression of Anti-Miscegenation Activity on Selected Variables
• 3.7. ARMA (1,1) Regression of Severity of Definitions on Selected Variables
• 3.8. ARMA (1,1) Regression of Severity of Penalties on Selected Variables
• 3.9. Racial Categories Used by the United States Census Bureau, 1880-1940
• 3.10. Growth of the Decennial Census, 1880-1940
• 3.11A. Significant Cases, 1810-1894
• 3.11B. Significant Cases, 1895-1972
• 4.1. ARMA (1,1,1) Regression of Black Lynchings on Selected Variables
• 4.2. ARMA (1,1) Regression of Black Lynchings on Selected Variables
• 4.3. The Impact of Anti-Miscegenation Activity and the Market for Southern Cotton Before and After 1900
• 5.1. Percent of Americans Marrying Out of Race, 1970-2000
• 5.2. Black-White Intermarriage Rates, 1970-2000
• 5.3. Total Population by Number of Races Reported, 2000
• 5.4. Percent within Categories Reporting Two or More Races, 2000
• 5.5. Multiple-Race Population, 2000

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Call for Proposals: Escaping to Destinations South: The Underground Railroad, Cultural Identity, and Freedom Along the Southern Borderlands

National Park Service
Network to Freedom
2012-06-20 through 2012-06-24
St. Augustine, Florida

Call for proposal deadline is Sunday, 2012-01-15, 23:59 PST (Local Time).

The 2012 Conference theme is the resistance to slavery through escape and flight to and from the South, including through international flight, from the 16th century to the end of the Civil War. Traditional views of the Underground Railroad focus on Northern destinations of freedom seekers, with symbols such as the North Star, Canada, and the Ohio River (the River Jordan) constructed as the primary beacons of freedom. This conception reduces the complexity of the Underground Railroad by ignoring the many freedom seekers that sought to obtain their freedom in southern destinations.

Likewise, borders and the movement across them by southern freedom seekers are also very crucial to our understanding of the complexities of the Underground Railroad. Freedom seekers often sought out political and geographical borderlands, as crossing these locations usually represented the divide between slavery and freedom. To this end, the conference will explore how southern freedom seekers seized opportunities to escape slavery into Spanish Florida and the Seminole Nation, to the Caribbean Islands, and into the western borderlands of Indian Territory, Texas, and Mexico.

Other topics of interest include stories of southern freedom seekers during the War of 1812 and the American Civil War in commemoration of the 200^th and 150^th anniversaries, respectively, as well as the American Revolutionary War. The conference will also commemorate the 450^th anniversary of the City of St. Augustine’s founding and the important role of Africans to this history.

Submission Procedures

Proposals should be submitted on the attached form by email (2012NationalUGRRConference@oah.org) to the Organization of American Historians, beginning October 2011. Complete panel proposals should include no more than 3 presenters, and a chair/moderator or commentator. Commentators may be omitted in order for the audience to serve in that role. Each participant will receive 20 minutes for his or her presentation. Session membership should be limited by the need to include substantial time for audience questions and comments. Individual submissions that are accepted will be placed on a panel by the Program Committee.

All proposals must include the following information:

• a complete mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, and affiliation for each participant;
• an summary of no more than 500 words, required only for panel proposals;
• a description of no more than 250 words for each presentation; and
• bio/vita of no more than 250 words for each participant.

Submission Deadline

The deadline for proposals is Sunday, January 15, 2012, by 11:59 pm PST.

For more information, click here.