Multicultural America Has Been Multicultural

Multicultural America

America has been multicultural from the beginning, and yet Americans have always been defined as white people. This was done by excluding minorities from participation in various facets of American life. Back in 1790 a law was passed that only whites could be citizens. Native Americans, who were here before whites came, could not be citizens nor blacks nor any other colors but white. With no more royalty or aristocracy, money and race were the only ways Americans could feel superior to their neighbors. The despised minorities and they developed a great interest in making money.

Industrialization and especially improvements in transportation of goods brought prosperity. "The development of the cotton export sector depended on the appropriation of Indian lands and the expansion of slavery"(p. 82). So the two great evils in American history happened in pursuit of money. Cotton was grown on former Indian land, and it was picked for free by black slaves.

A chose this section and the quotation above because it explains why Americans kept pushing west and taking the Indian's land. It was needed for money making. And it explains why blacks were brought here as slaves -- industry needed them for free labor. Our system, capitalism, doesn't have a conscience. There is no right or wrong in it. It demands a profit, that's all. To paraphrase: Cotton was the most important and profitable product both for internal and international trade. Other goods and services depended on income from cotton. Income from cotton helped to finance lots of other businesses ventures, too (p. 82).

2. I chose to write how free blacks up North were treated because most people already know about the slaves. Things were bad down South for the slaves, but things were bad up North too. Blacks up North were not slaves, but they had no rights. Blacks were not allowed to sit in theaters next to white people. They went to different hospitals if they were sick, or were placed in separate wings. They were allowed to be Christians but could not attend white churches. They had to ride on separate buses. They lived in the poorest neighborhoods because they could not live anywhere else. They were kept from voting by property-ownership requirements. Black children went to separate schools. Blacks were criticized as ignorant, lazy, and lacking ambition, but they were kept out of schools and could not get education to improve themselves. Stereotypes in the media cast them as shiftless, naturally lazy, ignorant, childlike, and "good for nothing."

To paraphrase: Dr. Samual Morton of Philadephia measured skulls and compared sizes. Bigger skulls could hold bigger brains, he claimed, and white people's skulls were bigger than black people's. Therefore, whites were physically superior to blacks and more intelligent. It happened that the white skulls Dr. Morton examined were from men who had been hanged for crimes. If he had not been a racist to begin with, he might have concluded that criminals have bigger heads than non-criminals. Scientific research was used in those days to justify racism and white supremacy.

An Indiana senator declared...'the same power that hath given him a black skin, with less weight or volume of brain has given us a white skin, with greater volume of brain and intellect; and that we can never live together upon an equality is as certain as that no two antagonistic principles can exist together at the same time'" (p. 109).

3. In the great Western expansion that occurred during the 19th century, whites were proud of their accomplishments. "The 'White' race was obeying the 'divine command, to subdue and replenish the earth,' as it searched for new and distant lands."

They were proud of their progress.

They believed they were bringing civilization to races and people who would otherwise be primitive heathens. If they couldn't convert them, they killed them. They were destroying "savagery." Houses replaced wigwams. White women replaced Indian squaws. And all of it was done in the name of God. They were really doing it for money, but rationalized the evil of it by calling it progress. This attitude, that whites were a civilizing influence, extended toward the yellow races also.

A chose this section because it is another example of how capitalism lacks a social conscience. The Chinese were brought here for cheap labor and were exploited for profits.

To paraphrase: Annexing California led to bringing Asian workers here to build a transcontinental railroad. The railroad would make it possible for America to export goods to Asia. The Chinese workers were also used to clear the land and cultivate farms in California. They were found to be very good workers and talented at growing things. Civilizing other races really meant exploiting them for cheap labor and bigger profits.

In a plan sent to Congress in 1848, shortly after the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, policy-maker Aaron W. Palmer predicted that San Francisco, connected by railroad to the Atlantic states, would become 'the great Emporium of our commerce on the Pacific'" (p. 192).

At first the Chinese were welcome in California, but within a couple years a "California for Americans" slogan signaled a changing climate and discrimination against them began (p. 195).

4. In 1890 a cult of "ghost dancers" got started among the Indians. They danced for God to come to them, save them, and destroy the whites. The movement quickly grew and whites became alarmed. When the government heard about it, they went after the leaders such as Sitting Bull and Big Foot. Something like what happened at Waco more recently occurred. Soldiers in a panic killed everybody, men, women, and children at Wounded Knee. They massacred them. I chose this section to try to understand better America's policies toward Native Americans. The belief in white superiority is evident in the government's dealings with Indians. Indians were considered savages.