Volume 17, Number 2 · August 12, 1971
Our Own Herrenvolk
By C. Vann Woodward
The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914
by George M. Fredrickson
Harper & Row, 343 pp., $10.00
In Red and Black: Marxian Explorations in Southern and Afro-American History
by Eugene D. Genovese
Pantheon, 435 pp., $10.00
The peculiar creed of American racism did not arrive full blown with national independence. It did not even reach full growth under slavery. In fact it was not until half a century after the abolition of slavery that formalized racism—the doctrine of innate and permanent inferiority of non-whites—reached its peak of power and influence and commanded an almost universal consensus among whites of the United States. In recent years two brilliant studies, one by David B. Davis[1] and another by Winthrop D. Jordan,[2] have illuminated the origins of the creed, but the former has not so far carried the story to the end of the eighteenth century and the latter extends his only to the early years of the nineteenth century.
Review, 3580 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |