The Invention of the White Race
Volume One: Racial Oppression and Social Control
Allen, Theodore W Publisher: Verso London and New York
Year Published: 1994
Resource Type: Book
One of the great contributions of Allen's study is a complete debunking of the myth that race and skin colour are the same thing.
Abstract: In Allen's first of two books on racism in the United States, Allen discredits the notion that race is the same thing as skin colour. He believes that racial oppression is a function of society. Oppression is the result of class struggle. Racial oppression cannot be ascribed to natural or "pre-American" prejudices. The onerous conditions imposed on blacks and indentured whites by plantation owners gave rise to Bacon's rebellion. The resulting solidarity of European whites and African black workers terrified the owners. A buffer zone of poor whites was needed. They gained status by virtue of their skin colour- eventually giving rise to the control stratum "middle class". Thus the invention of the white race was achieved.
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