SOC 224 Study Guide - Final Guide: Indian Removal Act, Missouri Compromise, Slave Codes
1
SOC 224: Race and Ethnic Relations Exam 1 Review Sheet
Exam 1 will consist of 20 multiple choice and three short essays.
I: The following concepts may be on the exam – you need to know what each of these
terms are referring to, and be able to give an example of each (if applicable).
The Social Construction of Race
– Race is a ‘social construction’;
taught to us through socialization
– What is real is determined by the
meaning we attribute to an
experience (being male/female but
how it differs from society to society
– or defining who was considered
black from state to state)
– BUT race matters because it has real
consequences
Race vs. Ethnicity
– Race = groups that are treated as
distinct in society b/c of certain
perceived characteristics that have
been defined as signifying
superiority and inferiority
o Perception, belief and social
treatment are key elements in
defining race
o Social hierarchy
– Ethnicity = based in a shared
religion, national origin, history,
language, etc.
o Share a common culture and
have a shared identity (sense
of belonging/”we”
o Can exist within a racial
group
o Racialized and Deracialized
Racism = belief that one race is superior to
another and treatment of that group, or
member of group, as intellectually inferior
– Attitude and behavior
Racialization = the process by which a
group begins to be treated as a race
Colonialism = the practice of acquiring
political control over another country,
occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it
economically
Slave Codes = laws enacted in the 1660s
that clearly spelled out the differences
between African slaves and European
indentured servants
Law of Hypodescent/”one drop rule” = the
idea that having any amount of black
ancestry makes you black
Panethnicity = groups together related ethnic
groups
Naturalization Act of 1790
– First piece of U.S. legislation
relating to the foreign-born, stating
that only free white persons who had
lived in the U.S. for at least two
years were eligible for citizenship
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act
– First major piece of immigration
legislation
– Overtly racist in that it specifically
prohibited Chinese laborers from
entering the U.S.
Immigration Act of 1917
– Legislation expanding the Chinese
Exclusion Act and denying entry to
anyone coming from “Asiatic Barred
Zone” (India, Burma, Malay States,
Arabia, and Afghanistan
Johnson-Reed Act of 1924
– Goal was to decrease the
immigration of any European group
that was not categorized as “Nordic”
through quota system
– Mexican immigration did not have
quotas
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2
– Introduced passports and visas as
mandatory
– Did not include 4 groups as part of
U.S. population
o Immigrants from Western
hemisphere
o Asians
o Descendants of slaves
o Native peoples in U.S.
14th Amendment
– Expanded birth-right citizenship to
African Americans
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
– Decided that a slave who had resided
in a free state and territory was not
thereby entitled to his freedom
– That African Americans were not
and could never be citizens of the
United States;
– That the Missouri Compromise,
which had declared free all territories
west of Missouri and north of
latitude 36°30′, was unconstitutional.
– The decision added fuel to the
sectional controversy and pushed the
country closer to civil war
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
– Supreme Court decision in which the
court determined that state laws
requiring racial segregation in public
facilities were constitutional, so long
as they were ‘separate but equal’
Bacon’s Rebellion
– The Giddy Multitude marched 500
armed interracial men to Jamestown,
Virginia, chased them out by ship
and burned it to the ground
– Governor returned with armed
reinforcements and suppressed the
biracial insurrection
– Created a fear of class disorder –
realized social order would always
be in danger so long as they relied on
white labor
– Caused America to turn to Africa for
primary source of labor and slavery
as main system of labor
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
– Supreme Court decision in which
court determined that separate
educational facilities were inherently
unequal and in violation of the 14th
Amendment
The Trail of Tears = the forced displacement
of the Cherokee of Georgia, the
Apalachicola of Florida, the Peoria of
Illinois, the Shawnee of Ohio, and a host of
other tribes
Indian Removal Act of 1830
– Enabled the administration of the
U.S. president Andrew Jackson to
use military power to displace at
least 70,000 Native Americans,
killing tens of thousands in the
process
1851 and 1871 Indian Appropriations Acts
– 1851 = Legislation that created
reservations for Native Americans
and provided funds for tribes to
relocate to these communal lands
– 1871 = Legislation that declared that
the U.S. government would no
longer sign treaties with Native
American tribes
Assimilation = Native Americans forced to
shun their native ways and languages and be
a part of the American culture
Sharecropping = a form of agriculture in
which a landowner allows a tenant to use the
land in return for a share of the crops
produced on their portion of land
Giddy Multitude = a discontented class of
indentured servants, slaves, and landless
freemen, both black and white
Frederick Douglass
– Raised away from the plantation by
his master’s grandparents – didn’t
know he was a slave until he was
older
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Document Summary
Soc 224: race and ethnic relations exam 1 review sheet. Exam 1 will consist of 20 multiple choice and three short essays. The following concepts may be on the exam you need to know what each of these terms are referring to, and be able to give an example of each (if applicable). Race is a social construction"; taught to us through socialization. What is real is determined by the meaning we attribute to an experience (being male/female but how it differs from society to society. Or defining who was considered black from state to state) But race matters because it has real consequences. Race = groups that are treated as distinct in society b/c of certain perceived characteristics that have been defined as signifying superiority and inferiority: perception, belief and social treatment are key elements in defining race, social hierarchy.
