The Long History of Racial Preferences for White Americans

Introduction: The Myth of Meritocracy

In "A Long History of Racial Preferences for Whites," Larry Adelman challenges the widespread belief among middle-class white Americans that their prosperity is the product of hard work, intelligence, and luck alone. He argues that white Americans have historically derived wealth and opportunity at the direct expense of other racial groups, and that acknowledging this history is essential to understanding persistent racial inequality in the United States.

Early Legislative Foundations of White Privilege

Adelman traces what he calls a form of affirmative action for white Americans back to the late 17th century. European indentured servants brought to Virginia and Maryland to work on tobacco plantations were gradually replaced by African slaves, and the white laborers who had previously occupied that position gained new rights and opportunities as a result of this transition.

A series of legislative acts further entrenched white advantage through land and citizenship rights. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 displaced the Cherokee and other Indigenous tribes west of the Mississippi River, freeing up land for white settlement. The Homestead Act of 1862 then distributed that land — originally belonging to Native peoples — primarily to white settlers. Even earlier, the Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted citizenship to free white persons, barring Asian and other non-white immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens, voting, or owning property. This restriction remained in place until it was reversed by the McCarran–Walter Act of 1952.

Post-Slavery Policies and Continued Racial Exclusion

When slavery ended, the freed Black population did not receive the promised "40 acres and a mule" or any monetary compensation. While formerly enslaved people remained in poverty, white slave owners retained their accumulated wealth and continued to benefit from access to the best jobs, schools, and hospitals. Racial exclusion was then reinforced through 20th-century federal policy. The Social Security Act of 1935, for example, guaranteed retirement income but deliberately excluded agricultural and domestic workers — the occupations in which the majority of African American, Mexican, and Asian workers were concentrated — leaving them without this foundational safety net.

The Wagner Act of 1935 gave labor unions significant bargaining power, helping millions of white workers attain middle-class status. At the same time, those same unions were permitted to deny non-white workers access to the associated benefits of healthcare, job security, and pensions, further widening the gap between white and non-white economic standing.

Conclusion: Structural Inequality Cannot Be Erased by Equal Treatment

Despite all of this, many white Americans still believe that race does not affect their lives, attributing differences in achievement to differences in ability and motivation. Sociologist Dalton Conley, however, demonstrated that performance disparities between white and non-white racial groups have nothing to do with innate differences and everything to do with unequal circumstances produced by history and policy. Adelman concludes that simply treating everyone the same today cannot reverse the unfair advantages that allowed white Americans to accumulate so much wealth and opportunity over preceding generations. Addressing racial inequality requires acknowledging the structural preferences that created it.