ES 112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Meritocracy, Asian Americans, Redlining
Document Summary
Elite settlers utilized their domination through colonial legislatures that continued to tighten slavery. Tighter control of voting rights 1723(everyone that was not white could not vote) In 1691 law increased there punishment of white woman who married african or indian men. Whites alone had the right to self-defense. White could not be whipped and they were given the right to beat blacks, even if they do not own them. White women were indirectly given control of black slaves. Whites alone had the right to literacy. Those who were white but not part of the elite were told that being white itself was a privilege, even if they did not have all the other rights the elite had. Once whiteness could no longer be constructed of materiality, another construction had to be put in place. White superiority put forward by white elites through propaganda. This superiority was supposed to offer struggling white a psychological wage.
