Race versus Class: The Historiography on Social
Inequality in Mexico and the United States1
by Silke Hensel
Abstract. - This essay focuses on the historiography of social inequality in Mexico
and the United States. For both countries race and class are central concepts. While
Mexican historiography is mainly concerned with the question of when the category of
class became more important than race, US historiography concentrates to a large extent
on the question of how race influenced the social status. Only recently has the concept
of race itself come into better focus, a development which would have happened earlier
had more scholarly interactions taken place between Latin American and US researchers.
Latin America and the United States have long been viewed as highly
stratified by racial and/or ethnic groups. Indeed, racial diversity has
been central to American development since colonial times. Today, race
and ethnicity remain important in historical writing on Latin America
and the United States.
European expansion not only brought a considerable number of
Spaniards, Portuguese, English and subjects of other colonial powers
to the New World, but also millions of African slaves. 2 Although
the African migration came to an end in the 19th century, 3 European
migration to the continent did not stop with the rise of independence
1
I would like to thank John Nieto-Phillips for his comments and his help in making
the English readable, albeit all mistakes are mine.
2
These similar developments in population history and the establishment of colonial
societies with social inequalities based on racial divisions might renew the question,
whether the Americas have a common history. Certainly there are not only similarities
but the societies developed in quite different ways. For the question of a common history
see Lewis Hanke (ed.), Do the Americas have a Common History? A Critique of the Bolton
Theory (New York 1964).
3
In the United States slave trade ended in 1808, the Brazilian government did not
take serious measures to stop it until 1850.
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movements. 4 During the 19th and 20th centuries, immigrants from Asia
came in significant numbers, too. 5 During the early colonial era, major
differences in power, wealth and prestige existed for the conquerors,
the native populations, and African slaves. But the colonial societies in
Spanish and Anglo America developed in quite different ways. While
there took place an ever-increasing miscegenation in the Spanish and
Portuguese colonies, the English colonizers more often abstained from
intermingling with the native and black populations. 6 The results of
these processes can be seen today. In Mexico for example, the major
part of the population is the offspring of the three parental groups and
equally important, the mixed groups are conceived as separate entities.
In the United States miscegenation has been less frequent and it is
even less noted in the public and historiography alike. 7 Since the end
of the 19th century the U. S. society negated mixture by the so-called
"one drop rule".8 Children of white and black parents did not belong to
an intermediate group, but were "Negroes" by definition. 9 In Mexico
today, the mestizo, that is, the offspring of indios and whites, symbolizes
the nation, whereas in the U. S., the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant is
still the quintessential "American". 10
4
The literature on European migration is too vast to be mentioned here. Research
mostly concentrates for Latin American and the United States on certain nationality
groups.
5
See Roger Daniels, Asian America: Chinese and Japanese in the United States since
1850 (Seattle 1988). Of course Asian immigrants came to Hispanic America during the
colonial period with the so called Manila galleon, but they were relatively few in numbers.
On Asian immigrants in New Spain see Jonathan I. Israel, Race, Class, and Politics in
Colonial Mexico, 1610-1670 (Oxford 1975), pp. 75-77.
6
On miscegenation in the English Colonies and the United States see Gary
Nash, "The Hidden History of Mestizo America": Journal of American History, 82
(Bloomington 1995), pp. 941-962. The author shows that miscegenation was more
frequent than generally presumed, but still there are considerable differences between
the development of miscegenation in the two Americas.
7
Idem, p. 949.
8
Basically, this rule means that every person with African American ancestry
belongs to the group of African Americans no matter how large or small the proportion
of this ancestry might be. See F.James Davis, Who Is Black? One Nation's Definition
(Pennsylvania 1991).
9
Charles Wagley, "The Concept of Social Race in the Americas": idem, The Latin
American Tradition. Essays on the Unity and Diversity of Latin American Culture (New
York/London 1968), pp. 155-174.
10
On mestizaje and its glorification in Mexico see José Vasconcelos, La raza cósmica
(México 1948). On the "naturalization" of the WASP identity in the United States see
William H. Katerberg, "The Irony of Identity: An Essay on Nativism, Liberal Democracy,
and Parochial Identities in Canada and the United States": American Quarterly, 47
(Baltimore 1995), p. 506.
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The development of miscegenation, and the perception of that
process, brought about a variety of social groups and hierarchies
changing over time. How and to what degree the category of race or
ethnicity influenced the social position of an individual, and at which
time period other criteria became more important, if at all, for social
stratification, is still hotly debated in historical writing. This essay
compares the literature on social stratification in Latin America and
the United States, yet it cannot possibly explore all the literature on
the subject for every single country or group. As the debate on the
significance of race and class for social inequality in Latin America
began with research on Mexico at the end of the colonial period, and
most of the studies concerned with the question treat Mexican cities,
the focus will be on Mexican historiography.11 The U.S.American
literature concentrates on the analysis of the impact of race for the
social position of African Americans. 12 Therefore, it is chosen here,
too. After reviewing the literature on both examples it is intended to
discuss what the fields might provide to each other.
1. SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN COLONIAL MEXICO
At the end of the 19th century, Latin American history emerged
as a subfield of the discipline. Research concentrated on the colonial
period because of its formative character for the continent.13 One major
concern for scholars was the character of the societies developing under
the Spanish rule. At first, the emphasis lay on legal history, but social
history became more important after the Second World War, as it did
elsewhere.
Almost from the beginning of the colonial period, the Spanish started
to debate the nature of the conquered people and whether they were
'1 This is not to say that the development in Mexico is representative for all of Latin
America. The cases of Brasil and Argentina, for example, are very different due to the
larger proportion of blacks in the former and European immigrants in the latter.
12
Although the relationship between blacks and whites remains the central theme
for race relations in the U. S., there is a growing and equally important body on Native
Americans, see below.
13
See Horst Pietschmann, "Lateinamerikanische Geschichte als historische Teildisziplin. Versuch einer Standortbestimmung": Historische Zeitschrift 248 (Munich 1989),
pp. 3 0 5 - 3 4 2 , here: p. 312.
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to be regarded as human beings or not. 14 Their humanity was finally
accepted and they legally became free subjects of the crown but a relict
of the dispute was the categorization of Spaniards as gente de razón and
all others as gente sin razón.15 Society in the early colonies was split
into two groups: Spaniards and indios16, the latter category invented
by the conquerors. The Spaniards considered themselves as superior
and, therefore, as nobles. 17 Miscegenation however occurred from the
beginning. The offspring of sexual relationships between Spanish men
and Indian women was first integrated into one of the parental groups.
But when the mixed population grew in size, it was perceived and
treated separately, and labeled mestizo.18 Black slaves formed yet
another group as did the offspring of negros and members of other
groups. Over time, the definition of mixed groups within the sistema de
castas became more sophisticated, each possible mixture being labeled
differently. 19 But for the day-to-day purposes, the following groups
remained the most important: peninsulares, criollos, castizos, mestizos,
mulatos, negros, and indios.20 The groups were ranked in the so-called
14
Lewis Hanke, All Mankind Is One: A Study of the Disputation Between Bartolomé
de Las Casas and Juan Gines de Sepúlveda in 1550 on the Intellectual and Religious
Capacity of the American Indians (DeKalb 1974), Patricia Seed, "Are these not also
Men? The Indians Humanity and Capacity for Spanish Civilization": Journal of Latin
American Studies 25 (Cambridge 1993), pp. 642-652.
15
Ibidem, p. 648.
16
But it has to be kept in mind, that the Spaniards accepted the existence of an
indigenous ruling class and conceded certain privileges. In order to mark the differences
in the concepts of racial groupings in Mexico and the U. S. for the former are used the
Spanish names for each entity.
17
See Richard Konetzke, "Die Entstehung des Adels in Hispanoamerika während der
Kolonialzeit": Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 39 (Munich 1952),
pp. 219-250, here p. 249.
18
On the legal regulations for mestizos see Richard Konetzke, "Los mestizos en
la legislación colonial": Richard Konetzke, Lateinamerika. Eroberung, Entdeckung,
Kolonisation. Gesammelte Aufsätze, ed. by Günter Kahle and Horst Pietschmann (Köln
1983), pp. 492-538, and idem, "Sobre el problema racial en la América Española":
ibidem, pp. 539-593.
19
On the different categories in use during the colonial period see Gonzalo Aguirre
Beltrán, La población negra de México. Estudio etnohistórico (2nd ed., México 1972),
pp. 153-179.
20
Peninsulares were Spaniards born in Europe and criollos Spaniards born in
America. According to the sistema de castas the mixed groups were: castizos (offspring
of mestizos and whites), mestizos (offspring of whites and indios), mulatos (offspring
of whites and blacks). The latter group comprised in Mexico at the end of the colonial
period almost every person with a partial African ancestry. In other regions of Latin
America the labels were different.
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sistema de castas according to their social status. Spaniards and criollos
occupied elite positions, and mestizos and mulatos formed a middle
layer, whereas indios and negros stood at the bottom of the social
hierarchy.21 Using concepts derived from European history, scholars
paralleled the groups of the sistema de castas with estates. 22 In 1967,
Magnus Mörner characterized this system of social inequality as a
"pigmentocracy", because of the important role physical appearance
(i.e. skin color) played for the social positioning of an individual.23
However, the concept of social races used by Charles Wagley in 1968 is
accepted today, 24 that is, the racial status was not defined by phenotype
and/or descent but by occupation, language, culture and behavior.25
While the conception of the colonial societies as based on estates
has not been in dispute for a long time, there has arisen a debate over
the question when estates gave way to a system based on economic
classes. The first to claim a shift of that kind for the end of the colonial
period was Lyle McAlister. 26 Mörner countered that some changes had
taken place at the end of the 18th century in the countryside, but that
the system of estates remained virtually unchanged.27 It was the study
21
Concerning the last two groups Mörner suggested that there existed two hierarchies.
The legal one placed blacks at the bottom, but the social made them rank higher than the
Indians. Magnus Mörner, Race Mixture in the History of Latin America (Boston 1967),
p. 60.
22
In Europe societies of the ancien régime were based on estates. The position of an
individual in the social hierarchy was determined by the legal status as a member of the
clergy, the nobility or the "common people", the type of personal income, the degree of
political power, and wealth.
23
Mörner, Race Mixture (note 21), p. 54. The term "pigmentocracy" was first used
by Alexander Lipschütz, El problema racial en la conquista de América (3rd ed., Mexico
1975).
24
Wagley, "The Concept of Social Race" (note 9).
25
This early conceptualization of race as not determined by biology is very important,
we will return to it later.
26
Lyle N. McAlister, "Social Structure and Social Change in Colonial New Spain":
Hispanic American Historical Review (in the following cited as HAHR), 43 (Durham
1963), pp. 349-370. Brading instead saw the system of social inequality in Guanujuato
at the end of the 18th century still as based on estates. David Brading, "Grupos étnicos,
clases y estructura ocupacional en Guanajuato, 1792": Historia Mexicana, 21 (Mexico
1971/72), pp. 460-480.
27
Mörner, Race Mixture (note 21), p. 70. On the interpretation of the social stratas as
estates see also McAlister, "Social Structure" (note 27), David A. Brading, "Government
and Elite in Late Colonial Mexico": HAHR, 53 (Durham 1973), pp. 389-414. Brading
claims that membership in an estate derived from three principles, the ethnic mobility,
legal privilege and wealth, p. 390.
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of John Chance and William Taylor which produced a heated debate
among scholars. 28 What was this debate about?
Chance and Taylor studied the social stratification in Antequera, the
capital of the intendancy of Oaxaca in southern Mexico on behalf
of the military census of 1792 and parish records. These authors
assume a straightforward relationship between race and the division
of labor if social inequality is based on estates. That is, members
of the lower strata in racial status would fulfill the least appreciated
economic functions with the lowest income, whereas Spaniards (or
whites) would occupy the highest positions. In their study, however,
Chance and Taylor have found no direct connection between racial
status and occupation. Criollos belonged to virtually every occupational
category, while a considerable number of castas (mestizos, and to
a lesser extent, mulatos) worked as high status artisans or even as
merchants, the latter belonging to the elite. 29 In addition, the authors
tested the marriage patterns in Antequera. The relatively high rate of
intermarriage among the various casta groups reflected a breakdown of
social boundaries based on race. This conclusion has been strongly
debated by scholars. Some charge Chance and Taylor with using
faulty quantitative methods 30 , while others using alternative statistical
approaches, support their conclusion. 31 Yet critics and supporters alike
agree that race and class represented two important dimensions of social
inequality in late colonial New Spain. 32
Further studies have emerged on other cities of New Spain. Most
of them are based on city censuses and use additional material, such
as parish records. But, they differ in their theoretical assumptions
28
John K. Chance/William B.Taylor, "Estate and Class in a Colonial City: Oaxaca
in 1792": Comparative Studies in Society and History (in the following cited as CSSH)
19 (New York/London 1977), pp. 4 5 4 - 4 8 7 .
29
Ibidem, p. 467 f.
30
Robert McCaa/Stuart B. Schwartz/Arturo Grubessich, "Race and Class in Colonial
Latin America: A Critique": CSSH 21 (New York/London 1979), pp. 4 2 1 - 4 3 3 .
31
Patricia Seed/Philip Rust, "Estate and Class in Colonial Oaxaca Revisited": CSSH
25 (New York/London 1983), pp. 7 0 3 - 7 1 0 . Patricia Seed/Philip Rust, "Across the Pages
with Estate and Class": Ibidem, pp. 7 2 1 - 7 2 4 .
32
"We agree with Chance and Taylor that class, however defined, was increasingly
important and that socioracial considerations were on the wane. Nevertheless, we are less
sure that commercial capitalism is the sole explanation of this change, and we remain
impressed by the resilience of the sociedad de castas." Robert McCaa/Stuart B. Schwartz,
"Measuring Marriage Patterns: Percentages, Cohen's Kappa, and Log-Linear Models":
CSSH 25 (New York/London 1983), pp. 7 1 1 - 7 2 0 , here: p. 720.
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and in the questions they ask. Celia Wu analyzed the population of
Querétaro at the end of the 18th century. 33 Her findings are quite
similar to those of Chance and Taylor. The city's elite was mainly
composed of peninsulares, and only a few criollos managed to acquire
elite positions. The strongholds of criollos belonging to the elite were
landownership and the church. In the lower status groups, criollos
made up for nearly 45% of the city's male working population. They
dominated the occupations of skilled artisans and petty commerce,
although they could be found in every economic status group. A closer
look to the textile and tobacco industries makes this point clear. All
but one of the obrajes were owned by peninsulares. Criollos dominated
the supervisory level with such offices as maestros, guards and skilled
operators, and they also constituted the main part of the cigarreros in
the tobacco factory. The rest of the workforce were mestizos. At the
other end of the hierarchy mulatos dominated the group of slaves still
existing in Querétaro at the end of the eighteenth century. Concerning
the intermarriage rate, it was somewhat lower than in Oaxaca, except
among castizos and mestizos, who chose partners from other racial
groups in considerable numbers. The main difference between the cases
of Querétaro and Antequera lay in the marriage patterns of mulatos,
who showed the highest rate of intermarriage in Antequera, while the
opposite was true in Querétaro. This was most probably due to the
persisting slave status linked to mulatos the latter city.
The main difference between the articles of Chance and Taylor, on
the one hand, and that of Wu, on the other, lies in their interpretation
of the results. Wu maintains that in Querétaro the racial status was
still more important than class. What seems to be crucial for further
investigation is the group of artisans. Wu hints to a substantial point
when she distinguishes between maestros and journeymen. Perhaps the
figures would show a different outcome in Antequera if Chance and
Taylor had made this distinction, too.
In her article "Social Dimensions of Race" Patricia Seed pushes
the discussion forward. 34 She critizes the old debate because of the
assumption that the change from a social hierarchy based on estates
to one based on economic position meant a shift to a more open
33
Celia Wu, "The Population of the City of Querétaro in 1791": Journal of Latin
American Studies, 16 (Cambridge 1984), pp. 2 7 7 - 3 0 7 .
34
Patricia Seed, "Social Dimensions of Raée: Mexico City, 1753": HAHR, 62
(Durham 1982), pp. 5 6 9 - 6 0 6 .
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society, and she investigates instead how race itself was determined
at the middle of the 18th century. Racial identity no longer depended
on physical characteristics but on the social perception and definition
of race, that is, a combination of the phenotype, economic status,
occupation and family connections made up for the social race of an
individual. Seed concentrates her examination on the fact that the racial
identification of individuals during their lifespan, or over generations,
could change. While this fact had been used as supportive argument in
earlier studies, it never stood at the center of evaluation. 35
Seed's breakdown of the population of Mexico City by race and
occupation (for the male working population) showed similarities to
the cases of Antequera and Querétaro. All strata of the dominant class
were comprised almost exclusively of peninsulares and criollos, while
the middling artisan class was made up of all racial groups. The bottom
occupational strata (i.e. servants and day laborers) comprised mainly of
indios and negros. Mestizos and mulatos seemed to form an "ambiguous
middle layer". Both groups could be distinguished from one another by
the second most important occupation found among them. Mestizos had
the highest percentage of day laborers of the intermediate racial groups.
The largest portion of mulatos instead was occupied as servants. In that
way both groups resembled their parent groups according to Seed.36
All racial groups except castizos and mestizos occupied an economic
niche within the division of labor. Because castizos and mestizos could
not be identified with a special occupation, Seed suggests that they
were the least identifiable racial groups and did not become a definite
social category.37 These patterns for the male employed population held
true for female workers with some differences because of the fewer
possibilities for women to find an occupation.
Seed proceeds to examine the phenomenon of racial variability, that
is, the changes in racial labels of individuals by comparing the racial
35
Seed does not investigate cases, where individuals used the possibility to buy their
whiteness from the colonial government by the gracias of sacar. The respective law and
negros or mulatos using it, is often cited as an argument for the assumed disintegration of
racial boundaries. While the statement "money whitens" is well known in the literature,
there is no systematic research on the topic.
36
Seed, "Social Dimensions" (note 34), p. 581. Note, that Seed follows the contemporary conception of the racial groups. She only mentions blacks as the parent group for
mulatos and indios for mestizos while strictly spoken they had two of course.
37
Ibidem, p. 585. See also John K. Chance, "On the Mexican Mestizo", in Latin
American Research Review 14, 3 (Albuquerque 1979), pp. 153-168.
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category given in the census of 1753 with the marriage register in
the Mexico City parish of El Sagrario for 1752 and 1753. For 106
couples both partners could be identified in both sources. Different
categorizations occurred most often for mestizos and mulatos who
generally were put into darker groups in the census. Only a few couples
ascended from marriage to the census, which is interpreted by Seed as
an adjustment of partners belonging to racial groups considered by the
priest to be too different for an acceptable marriage. Most persons for
whom different labels could be found had an occupation untypical for
their group. 38 Seed concludes:
"Race and the division of labor continued to be associated in the middle of the
eighteenth century, but the boundaries among racial groups were disintegrating, as
the separation grew between the cognitive system of labels and the economic division
of labor."39
In another article concerned with the marriage patterns at the end of
the colonial period Robert McCaa studies the census and parish records
of Parral in 1788 and the two following years. 40 In this northern mining
city the age of marriage was determined by gender, socioeconomic
position, and race declining in importance as mentioned. Spanish men
and women married later than did members of the castas and indios.
The chance to marry depended mainly on race. While mestizas were
most likely to stay single, the proportion of married women was greatest
for mulatas. Spanish and Indian women married to an extent matching
the average in Parral. Men were more likely to contract marriage if they
ranked high in social position. Their occupation and their relationship
to the head of household most influenced their chances for marrying.
38
Seed, "Social Dimensions" (note 34), p. 595. Unfortunately, Seed does not discuss
procedures of taking the registers and the census. At the beginning of her article she states
that the census reflected the view of the elite. Probably, the changes in categorizations
were due to different perceptions. The marriage registers might reflect to a greater
extent, how people perceived themselves because the priest relied often on their own
identification while the censustakers might have decided on the racial labels. Comp.
Douglas R. Cope, The Limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico
City, 1660-1720 (Madison 1994).
39
Seed, "Social Dimensions" (note 34), p. 602.
40
Robert McCaa, "Calidad, Clase and Marriage in Colonial Mexico: The Case of
Parral 1788-1790": HAHR, 64 (Durham 1984), pp. 4 7 7 - 5 0 1 .
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Concerning the phenomenon of racial passing,41 the study of Parral
showed that women's racial status changed more often then men's
and was determined by the status of their husbands. The majority
of the cases showed a downward movement. If men changed racial
category from the census to the parish register, the new label ascribed
was in most cases connected to their occupation. 42 From the outset,
McCaa rejects the concepts of estate and class as analytical tools,
using instead the contemporary terms of calidad and clase, which both
referred to race, social prestige and occupation - albeit the first one
more to race and the latter one more to occupation. He concludes that
Chance and Taylor were wrong in stating that the sistema de castas
lost significance at the end of the eighteenth century.43 What makes
McCaa's article interesting, however, is that it brings gender into the
analysis of marriage patterns. Whereas earlier studies often argued that
mulatos marrying women of a higher racial status thereby ascended the
social ladder, this trend clearly was not the case in Parral.44
The last study to be discussed here is the analysis of the 1821
census of Guadalajara by Rodney Anderson.45 The author argues that
commercial capitalism took root in New Spain as early as the beginning
of the eighteenth century. Therefore,
41
The phenomenon of passing was different in Mexico compared to the U. S. In the
latter the phenotype is one important aspect for racial categorization whereas this is less
important in the Mexican case. Moreover the concept of passing in the U. S. context has
been associated with upward mobility whereas new studies on Mexico associate passing
with either upward or downward mobility. See below.
42
That is, McCaa draws a connection between racial and occupational status without
making it an explicit issue. McCaa, "Calidad, Clase" (note 40), pp. 498f.
43
Ibidem, pp. 477 and 499. Unfortunately, McCaa does not discuss the meaning of
calidad and clase further. It is not clear why they should be better analytical concepts
than estate and class. Additionally he himself refers to the rejected concepts when he
claims that the case of Parral shows the still prevalent importance of the sistema de
castas.
44
Although Love did not draw any conclusion with respect to gender in his study
of the libro de casamientos de castas in Veracruz in the 17th and 18th centuries, it
seems to point, nevertheless, to a similar direction. Love found much more marriages of
Spanish women with black or casta men then Spanish men marrying women of a lower
racial status. Unfortunately, Love did not analyze the libros de casamiento de españoles
systematically. Edgar F. Love, "Marriage Patterns of Persons of African Descent in a
Colonial Mexico City Parish": HAHR 51 (Durham 1971), pp. 7 9 - 9 1 .
45
Rodney D. Anderson, "Race and Social Stratification: A Comparision of WorkingClass Spaniards, Indians, and Castas in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1821": HAHR 68 (Durham
1988), pp. 209-243.
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".. .the relevant question to be looked at in the estate-class controversy would not
be whether economic class had replaced the estate system by independence, but
whether the economic and social stratification of Mexican society in 1821 can best
be understood as a product of colonial racial policy or as the result of economic
changes accompanying the rise of early commercial capitalism. I take the position
that the latter is the case." 46
He intends to verify this by dividing the population of Guadalajara,
a city that lived a substantial population growth and economic development in the second half of the eighteenth century, not only into racial
and occupational groups. Additionally, the Spanish inhabitants are divided into high and low stratas, depending on whether they were referred
to as "don" and "doña" or not. Testing marriage patterns, household
and family structure, occupational and residence patterns, according to
Anderson, there existed no differences between low ranking Spaniards
and other groups where "life chances" were concerned.
Although Anderson's analysis illuminates the living conditions of
different strata of society, it does not prove his initial hypothesis,
for he - and for that matter, all the authors discussed here - does
not analyze a process but rather, a certain moment in history. The
aforementioned studies analyze census information with quantitative
methods rather than qualitative ones. Lacking comparable sources for
earlier years, scholars have assumed developments rather than proven
them. Therefore, important questions were never asked. What did
it mean to the contemporaries that racial designations were given
in censuses and parish registers? Although all authors agree on the
concept of race being determined by social and cultural factors, "race"
nevertheless is taken for granted. What is needed instead are studies
on the concept itself, how did it change over time. Was there really
no difference between an artisan designated as mestizo and an artisan
being considered as criollo? Did they work in the same places together
and sell their products to the same customers? Were their business
opportunities equal? Did they socialize, share leisure time and make
mutual friends? The category of mestizo deserves special attention. If
it was the least discrete racial group, why were people historically
designated and perceived as such? If mulatos were more visible as a
group because they occupied an economic niche, that is, if their race
was defined by their occupation, the race vs. class debate becomes
46
Ibidem, p. 212.
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meaningless. Finally, the common assumption in the debate that a
class-based hierarchy provides more opportunities for upward mobility
must also be reconsidered.47
2 . RACE AND CLASS IN THE UNITED STATES
The historical literature on African Americans is markedly different
from the historiography of race and class in Mexico. First, U. S. studies
on social inequality based on race or class are more extensive. This is
due in part to the fact that such studies are not as narrowly defined,
either chronologically or thematically, as those for Mexico. Second,
the terms which have emerged from U. S. (i.e. African American)
historiography as well as the methods of analysis that have been
employed by U. S. scholars, have shown far greater diversity than
the aforementioned Mexican studies. Because of limited space we
will delineate the earlier historiography shortly and discuss some new
studies on black workers during the end of the 19th and the beginning
of the 20th centuries more in depth.48
Three major themes or periods dominate African American historiography: slavery; Emancipation and Reconstruction; and the processes
of urbanization and proletarianization of the black population which
started with the Great Migration at the beginning of the 20th century.
Discussions of slavery have tended to turn on whether slavery preceded
or followed the emergence of collective and deeply rooted prejudice.
Edward Morgan states that racism was not the original reason for black
slavery; rather Africans were thought to be the only people who could
be enslaved given the international situation. No governments defended
them. In the South, slavery became important when it was economically
more feasible than contracting indentured servants, who eventually
could leave the plantation when they fulfilled a term of servitude. In
addition, poor whites in England and the colonies were regarded by
the upper classes as similar to slaves. This helps to explain similar
day-to-day experiences of both. In fact, indentured servants and slaves
47
Compare for a totally different setting but nevertheless interesting discussion Lothar
Gall, "Vom Stand zur Klasse?": Historische Zeitschrift, 261 (Munich 1995), pp. 1 - 2 1 .
48
This essay by no means claims to give a full bibliography of African American
historiography. For an overview see Darlene Clark Hine (ed.), The State of Afro-American
History: Past, Present, and Future (Baton Rouge/London 1986).
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socialized quite often; they engaged in rioting, ran away together, and
even married. Nevertheless, Morgan also finds, slavery was associated
with being black quite early, and it gave rise to racist thinking in order
to justify the treatment of Africans. 49
Other scholars see the reason for only blacks being enslaved in
preexisting European ideas on their presumed "inferiority". 50 George
Fredrickson, for example, also points to racism to explain the Confederate loyalty of non-slaveholding Southern farmers and implicitly
assumes that the yeomen acted thereby against their own interest.51
Elisabeth Fox-Genovese and Eugene Genovese contradict that interpretation on the ground that yeomen in the plantation belt possessed
economic and familial ties with slaveholders who often helped them
in times of economic hardship. Additionally, farmers who wanted to
expand their operations only could aspire to do so if they bought slaves.
Therefore, they acted like slaveholders even before becoming so.52
Although economic considerations undeniably played a role in
certain situations, race was an important social category during the
times of slavery. Gary Nash shows how being black - either a slave or
a freedman - influenced one's social status in Philadelphia, a city where
racial relations were relatively harmonious during the 18th century. 53
Especially after Independence, African Americans formed their own
community with churches, social clubs, etc. The formation of such a
community did not mean that it was homogenous. Free blacks not only
worked as artisans or laborers, but they also comprised part of the
49
Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery - American Freedom: The Ordeal of Virginia
(New York 1975). See also George M. Fredrickson, "The Social Origins of American
Racism": idem, The Arrogance of Race: Historical Perspectives on Slavery, Racism, and
Social Inequality (Hanover 1988), pp. 189 - 205.
50
Jordan claims that slavery and racism were both cause and effect at the same time.
Winthrop Jordan, The White Man's Burden: Historical Origins of Racism in the United
States (New York 1974). See also Robin Blackburn, "The Old World Background of
European Colonial Slavery": William and Mary Quarterly, 54 (Williamsburg 1997), pp. 65
- 1 0 2 . For the roots of racism in Spanish America see Benjamin Braude, "The Iberian
Roots of American racist Thought": William and Mary Quarterly, 54 (Williamsburg
1997), pp. 143-166.
51
George M. Frederickson, The Black [mage in the White Mind: The Debate on
Afro-American Character and Destiny (New York 1964).
52
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Eugene D. Genovese, "Yeomen Farmers in a Slaveholders' Democracy": idem, Fruits of Merchant Capital: Slavery and Bourgeois Property in
the Rise and Expansion of Capitalism (New York/Oxford 1983), pp. 2 4 9 - 2 6 6 .
53
Gary B. Nash, Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia's Black Community, 1720-1840 (Cambridge, Mass. 1988).
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middle class and, in some cases, acquired upper class status by virtue
of their wealth. Economic differentiation also implied cultural variation
among African Americans. While the black middle class propagated
"respectability", that is, a bourgeois lifestyle, as a means of social
uplift of the community, black laborers were more concerned on their
"reputation" in the streets. This meant, for example, that they dressed
extravagantly in order to point to their individuality. Such behavior was
criticized by the black and the white middle class. At the beginning of
the nineteenth century, racial relations in Philadelphia became more
combative, a trend attributed tp wage and/or labor competition. But
Nash states that this is only part of the story:
"In a society where class differences were coming under increasing attack, the
affirmation of racial distinctions assumed new importance among white Americans.
Race, in effect, became a substitute form of hierarchy among white northerners drawn
to the egalitarian ideal of an open, competitive society." 54
At the same time the ideology on black "inferiority" also changed.
During the 18th century, it was widely assumed that blacks' situation
(i.e. slavery) was the reason for their social position. However, at
the beginning of the 19th century, more and more whites - led by
"scientists" - thought of black "inferiority" as a natural phenomenon.
Whereas historians of slavery long have examined both the racist and
the economic dimensions of the institution, historians of Reconstruction
were more exclusively focused on racial dimensions. 55 For example
at the beginning of the 20th century, the Dunning School, named for
William Archibald Dunning, adopted racist ideas on African Americans
and argued that freedmen were to blame for a great deal for the
social disorder following the Civil War and the assumed failure of
the attempts to reorder society in the South. This view was first
thoroughly rebuked in the 1910s by W. Ε. B. Du Bois and other black
scholars, but, the Dunning School's influence endured for decades.
Even as late as the 1960s, textbooks reproduced similar statements
on Reconstruction. Since then, revisionist studies have shown that the
former slaves were hardly to blame for corruption in government and
54
Ibidem, p. 213.
For an overview see Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction,
(New York 1990).
55
1863-1877
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the economic downturn of the South. 56 Recent scholarship focuses on
the transition from slave to free labor and shows that the freedmen had
their own vision of freedom. For them, emancipation entailed a dual
struggle:
"1) against the prior sovereignty that masters and mistresses exercised over their
lives as bondsmen and women; 2) against the ascendant efforts to subject them to
landowners management and to the discipline of an abstract market, which northern
Republican proponents and their southern white allies defined as 'freedom'." 57
Scholarship on Reconstruction has evolved into a more complex
reading of the relationship between race and class, but it largely has
granted more attention to race (i.e. race relations, perceptions, and
politics) than to class.
Following Reconstruction, the rise of northern industry led to
massive migration of African Americans from the South to cities such
as Chicago, New York, Detroit, and the like. The rural black population
became urban and the migrants and their descendants worked as
laborers in the new industries. Notwithstanding this development, class
and issues of labor did not become central to African American
historiography until recently. Due to the belief that the United States
constituted an exception in world history, struggles over power and
privilege by class were long thought to be secondary to race.58 Early
studies on the social conditions of African Americans often focused
on the group itself looking for the reasons of its low social status.
As scholars progressively eschewed theories of racial inferiority on
biological grounds, they turned increasingly to the legacy of slavery
on the African American culture and psyche. 59 Stanley M. Elkins
hypothesized that slavery produced a special personality among African
Americans. According to him, generations of slavery had made them
56
See John Hope Franklin, "Mirror for Americans: A Century of Reconstruction
History": Idem, Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988
(Baton Rouge 1989),
pp. 3 8 4 - 3 9 8 . On Emancipation and Reconstruction historiography see also Armstead
L. Robinson, "The Difference Freedom Made: The Emancipation of Afro-Americans":
Darlene Clark Hine (ed.), The State of Afro-American History: Past, Present and Future
(Baton Rouge 1986), pp. 5 1 - 7 4 .
57
Joe William Trotter Jr., "African American Workers: New Directions in U. S. Labor
Historiography": Labor History, 35 (New York 1995), pp. 4 9 5 - 5 2 3 , here: p. 509.
58
See Barbara Fields, "Ideology and Race in American History": J. Morgan Kousser,
James M. McPherson (ed.), Region, Race, and Reconstruction. Essays in Honor ofC. Vann
Woodward (New York/Oxford 1982), pp. 142-177, here: p. 142.
59
Robert L. Harris Jr., "Coming of Age: The Transformation of Afro-American
Historiography": Journal of Negro History, 67 (Atlanta 1982), pp. 107-121, here p. 114.
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childish, lazy, irresponsible and dependent. 60 Glazer and Moynihan
later attributed the blacks' persistent lower social status to their not
possessing middle class values and to their different family structure
as compared to whites.61
In the field of labor history there has existed another strain of scholarship, which viewed racial divisions as a mere reflex of economic competition.62 Classical Marxists have asserted that racial discrimination in
the labor market historically has served employers' interest to maximize
profits and to weaken the power of the workers by dividing them into
distinct and antagonistic racial groups. In the Marxist view, racial lines
reinforce worker divisions and relegate blacks to the worst and lowest
paid jobs. 63 Another view that attributes racism to economic motives
is the "split labor market theory" 64 , which emphasizes competition
between laborers. According to this model, the labor market is split
along racial lines, with each racial group receiving different wages.
While employers are reluctant to interfere in the market and adopt
a laissez-faire behavior, white, high-paid craftsmen and workers are
afraid of the intrusion of low-paid labor into their trade and therefore
try to restrict their access. In the split labor market there are at least
three interest groups: the employers, high-paid workers and low-paid
workers. Racial lines, according to this theory, are reinforced more by
workers than by employers. Both the classical Marxist and the split
labor market models ultimately claim that racial antagonisms seem
rational, in an economic sense.65 Yet these models hardly explain the
variability in labor and race relations; for studies on the organized
labor movement have shown that racial policies of U. S. trade unions
60
Stanley M. Elkins, Slavery: A Problem of American Institutional and Intellectual
Life (Chicago 1959).
61
Nathan Glazer, Daniel P. Moynihan, Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto
Ricans, Jews, Italians and Irish of New York City (Cambridge, Mass. 1963). Concerning
the reactions of black scholars to these perceptions see Robert L. Harris Jr., "Coming of
Age" (note 59), pp. 115 ff. For a major critique on the argument of family structure see
Herbert G. Gutman, The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925 (New York
1976).
62
Alan Dawley, Joe W. Trotter, "Race and Class": Labor History, 35 (New York
1995), pp. 4 8 6 - 4 9 4 , here p. 489.
63
See for example Ronald L. Lewis: Black Coal Miners in America: Race, Class, and
Community Conflict, 1780-1980 (Lexington 1987), chap. 3 and 4.
64
Edna Bonavich, "A Theory of Ethnic Antagonism: The Split Labor Market":
American Sociological Review, 37 (1972), pp. 5 4 7 - 5 5 9 .
65
For a critique of these theories see Alan Dawley, Joe W. Trotter: "Race and Class"
(note 62), p. 489.
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differed from union to union, within the same union, and from region
to region. 66
An essay on black coal miners and the labor movement by Herbert
G. Gutman, first published in 1968, had a deep impact on the new
research agenda of social history developing in the late 1960s and
early 1970s.67 Based on the letters of Richard Davis to the United
Mine Workers Journal, Gutman took a new look at the black working
class "from the bottom up". Davis was a coal miner and leader in
the United Mine Workers who advocated interracial unionization and
was active in organizing black coal miners. Although the time was not
propitious for organizing, because African Americans faced growing
restrictions on their civil rights and, therefore, turned to the ideology
of black solidarity, black and white laborers joined the United Mine
Workers together. Some black union members, among them Davis,
also became officials in the union. In his essay, Gutman documents the
commitment of black miners to the labor movement and class unity
across racial lines, for both African Americans and whites coal miners
favored interracial labor unions. Therefore, Gutman states, it is not
enough to study the ideology of union leaders like Samuel Gompers,
who certainly had racist views. For a proper assessment of race and
class, one has also to examine the views of the workers.
Following Gutman's call, other scholars have focused on the complicated intertwining nature of workers' class and racial identities. In
his study on coal miners in West Virginia, Joe Trotter shows how
both, race and class, were important factors in African Americans'
lives.68 Discrimination in coal mining meant that black workers were
assigned worse jobs than their white counterparts, and received less
pay. Moreover, blacks endured segregation, which was rooted in the
Reconstruction era. In welfare, housing, and schools separate institutions with minor standards served the black workers. Together, these
patterns led to a development of a black middle class and thereby to
intraracial solidarity. Especially the black elite developed an ideology
66
Joe W. Trotter, "African-American Workers: New Directions in U. S. Labor Historiography": Labor History 35 (New York 1995), pp. 4 9 5 - 5 2 3 , here: pp. 5 0 0 - 5 0 1 .
67
Herbert G. Gutman, "The Negro and the United Mine Workers of America: The
Career and Letters of Richard L.Davis and Something of Their Meaning: 1 8 9 0 1900": idem, Work, Culture, and Society in Industrializing America. Essays in American
Working-Class and Social History (New York 1977), pp. 121-208.
68
Joe W. Trotter Jr., Coal, Class, and Color: Blacks in Southern West Virginia, 1915
-1932 (Urbana/Chicago 1995).
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of racial consciousness. But interracial alliances also occurred. For
example some unions, such as the Knights of Labor and, later, the
United Mine Workers of America, were committed to organizing black
workers as well as white ones. Similar alignments took place in politics.
In West Virginia, the black middle class associated in part with whites in
the Republican party. Although black politicians' influence depended
on voters of their own race, 69 they would never have gained party
positions without the support of white party leaders.
In his essay Eric Arnesen explores black labor activism and African
Americans' perception of biracial labor unions, a topic which long
has been neglected by scholars who have assumed that blacks were
against such unions but could not avoid them. 70 But Arnesen finds
that African Americans' concerns centered on equal treatment and
consideration by the union leadership, but not on integration on the
level of locals. In fact, the experiences made in biracial locals often led
blacks to form their own chapters in order to avoid white dominance
and discrimination. Arnesen's findings show even more clearly than
Gutman's that both race and class were important aspects in shaping
black workers' identities. Additionally, whites, too, defined their group
by class and race (as well as by ethnicity and gender). They held racist
beliefs, which were imbedded in the larger development of segregation,
and used unions to protect their group on the labor market.
The recent attention paid to white working class identity exhibits to
a new understanding of race among scholars, for "race" is no longer
conceived as a given category, but as an ideology71 or
"a social construction predicated upon the recognition of difference and signifying
the simultaneous distinguishing and positioning of groups vis-à-vis one another."72
Understood this way, it becomes clear that racial identities are as
important for whites as they are for blacks, as David Roediger shows
in his illuminating essay on whiteness.73 Roediger rejects the economic
69
Blacks in West Virginia were not disfranchised as in other Southern states until
World War One. Ibidem, p. 47.
70
Eric Arnesen, "Following the Color Line of Labor: Black Workers and the Labor
Movement Before 1930": Radical History Review 55 (New York 1993), pp. 5 3 - 8 7 .
71
Fields, "Ideology and Race" (note 58).
72
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, "African-American Women's History and the
Metalanguage of Race": Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 17 (Chicago
1992), pp. 2 5 1 - 2 7 4 , here: p. 253.
73
David R. Roediger, The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American
Working Class (London 1991).
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explanation of white worker's racism - an explanation that assumes that
racism would eventually vanish if class differences no longer existed.
Instead, he writes, whiteness constituted a part of 19th-century white
working class culture.
THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO A N D
THE UNITED STATES IN COMPARISON
Comparing race relations in Latin America and the U. S. has a certain
tradition, especially when the system of slavery is concerned. 74 But
as the historical discipline has become more and more specialized,
this subtheme has mostly been discussed in its own terms for each
region. Nevertheless, scholars might gain insights by looking across
the boundaries.
For a long time, studies of race in Latin America stood at the
forefront because "race" was not conceived as a "natural" concept but
rather as determined by social attributes. Unfortunately, the theoretical
implications of this interpretation were not fully recognized by Latin
Americanists. In recent years, however, scholars of African American
history have taken the lead by developing a more complex understanding of the social construction of race - an understanding that may give
impulse to new research on race in Latin America.
Conversely, while research on the meaning of whiteness in the
United States has developed recently, studies of white identity in Latin
America have long been undertaken - although the terms are different.
For example, studies of the elite at the end of the colonial period
form one of the most productive areas of social history, and brought
insight on the racial identities of Spaniards and criollos. Being Spanish
(or white) was very important for the social status during the colonial
era. For members of the elite the racial scheme (or sistema de castas)
which allowed them to preserve their position of power, influenced
74
See the classical study of Frank Tannenbaum, Slave and Citizen (New York 1946).
Carl N. Degler, Neither Black Nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the
United States (New York 1971), Thomas E. Skidmore, "Toward a Comparative Analysis
of Race Relations Since Abolition in Brazil and the United States": Journal of Latin
American Studies, 4,1 (Cambridge 1971), pp. 1 - 2 8 , Idem, "Bi-Racial USA vs. Multiracial
Brazil: Is the Contrast Still Valid?": Journal of Latin American Studies, 25 (Cambridge
1993), pp. 3 7 3 - 3 8 6 .
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their marriage choices.75 What has received scant consideration among
scholars of Latin America is the meaning of whiteness for members
of the middle or lower classes. The essays on Mexico, for example,
mention that criollos could be found in almost every class but what
that meant to them and to others has not been sufficiently studied.
Although this deficiency might be due in part to the nature of the
sources, it has also to do with the historians' perspectives on the nature
of race. Racial categories in Mexico have been discussed foremost
as distinguishing patterns, and yet any unifying aspects of race and
their possible effects upon identity have been neglected. Chance, for
example, explicitly denies that mestizos saw themselves as belonging
to a distinctive group; in his opinion they formed a racial but not
an ethnic entity. 76 Douglas Cope in part supports this view in his
essay on the lower classes of Mexico City. He states that racial labels
only assumed meaning in the ordinary lives of members of the castas
at certain life junctures when they came into contact with crown
officials or the clergy.77 Cope further shows that the phenomenon
of passing and the marriage patterns indicate that there existed three
sectors of racial groups: first, Spaniards and criollos; second, indios,
mestizos, and castizos", and third, mulatos and negros. Most individuals
socialized within these larger groupings, that is, intermarriage took
place between negros and mulatos, or indios and mestizos, but seldom
between indios and mulatos. Even intermarriage between mestizos and
mulatos accounted for only ten percent of all marriages. When passing
occurred, it often signified an individual's assimilation into one of
the larger racial categories (i.e. mestizos or mulatos).78 In most cases,
passing resulted in downward movement on the racial ladder. In cases
where it produced upward movement, passing was the consequence
of an individual's economic achievements. All this suggests that the
sistema de castas which postulated a continuum from Indian and/or
black to white, in reality, took on a different meaning in Mexico;
colonial society was thus divided into three sectors. These findings fit
perfectly with Cope's own definition of race as a social construction,
a definition he somehow fails to apply consistently. Nevertheless, his
75
Patricia Seed, To Love, Honor, and Obey: Conflicts over Marriage Choice,
1821 (Stanford 1988).
76
Chance, "On the Mexican Mestizo" (note 37).
77
Cope, The Limits of Racial Domination (note 38).
78
Ibidem, pp. 7 6 - 8 4 .
1574-
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study illuminates a new direction for further research on the topic of
racial categories as socially constructed entities. Further studies should
take into account the model of racial groupings Cope showed to be
important. 79
Moreover, Cope's essay is significant because his chronology lies
outside the usual late 18th-century timeframe. He focuses on a time
period far less studied than the late eighteenth century. Similarly, further
studies should explore the often neglected early national period. Due
to the lack of studies on the topic, it is hard to evaluate the effect of
the legal abolition of racial designations after Mexican independence.
Further studies might also examine, for example, how late nineteenthcentury European racist ideologies influenced the intellectuals and
policy-makers in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Many
governments implemented policies to attract European immigrants
in the hope of "improving" the countries "racial stock." 80 It would
be interesting to know to what degree these ideologies and policies
correlated to a change in race relations. The topics of race and class in
20th-century Mexico received considerable attention, because of their
importance to the Mexican Revolution and the rise of indigenismo, and
the social status of indios/campesinos. But much remains to be done.81
Whereas the historic literature on Mexico focuses almost exclusively
on the stratification of society, studies of race in the U. S., particularly of
African Americans, also examine the unifying aspects of race and how
it shaped the identities of blacks. Consequently, it has become possible
to study the social differences existent within the group and it becomes
evident that both race and class were important aspects in the lives
of blacks. 82 In Arnesen's words, "The racial and class dimension of
their experiences were rarely separable in practice, and both remained
important." 83 If Mexican historiography has focused on the dilemma
79
A recent study on mulatos shows that race influenced their identity. Ben Vinson
III., "Free Colored Voices: Issues of Representation and Racial Identity in the Colonial
Mexican Militia": Journal of Negro History, 80,4 (Atlanta 1995), pp. 170-182.
80
Richard Graham (ed.), The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940
(Austin
1990).
81
Alan Knight, "Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo: Mexico 1910-1940": Richard
Graham (ed.), The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940
(Austin 1990), pp. 7 1 114. On indigenismo see also David Brading, "Manuel Gamio y el indigenismo oficial
en México": Revista Mexicana de Sociología, 51,2 (Mexico City 1989), pp. 2 6 7 - 2 8 4 .
82
See Joe W. Trotter, Black Milwaukee: The Making of an Industrial Proletariat, 1915
-1945 (Urbana/Chicago 1985).
83
Arnesen, "Following the Color Line" (note 70), p. 76.
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between race and class, African American historical literature has come
to view the two as inextricably intertwined. For the latter, the debate on
race and class shifts to investigation on the historical changes of both
and their regional variations. Some scholars are going so far as to state
that the race-versus-class debate is irrelevant, because the concepts of
race and class are not equivalent. Barbara Fields suggests that while
class can be located both in "objective reality" and "social appearances"
race can only be located at the latter level.84 This perspective misses the
point. Social inequality is based on several criteria, and is ultimately a
question of cultural values and commonly held beliefs in the legitimate
order of society.85 Although race is not "objective", since there is no
biological foundation for racist thinking, it nevertheless had, and still
has, undeniable impacts on social life. Moreover, classes do not exist
simply because of economic structure, either. They only come into
being in the process of struggle, which leads to the gradual gaining of
cultural and political identity.86 Therefore, the new effort to historize
race should also question when, and under which circumstances, race
was more important than other dimensions of social inequality.
The choice of African American historiography for the discussion on
race in the United States was not accidental. This subfield has not only
produced the largest amount of scholarship on race relations, but it also
reflects the predominant "biracial" (i.e. black-white) characterization
of U. S. society which stands in stark contrast to thinking of race in
Latin America. The latter's multiracial perspective is perhaps due to the
fact that miscegenation was far more prevalent in Latin America and
the offspring of mixed couples since very early in the colonial period
has been categorized as distinct entities. These were never withdrawn
(although they changed over time), whereas mulattoes in the United
States ceased to exist with the so-called "one drop rule", whereby every
individual with an African ancestry, no matter how remote, was labeled
"black".
84
Fields, "Ideology and Race" (note 58), p. 151.
On the different forms of capital which determine the social position of individuals
see Pierre Bourdieu, "Sozialer Raum und 'Klassen'": Idem, Sozialer Raum und 'Klassen'.
Leçon sur la leçon (Frankfurt 1985); the original was published under "Espace social et
genèse de 'classe'": Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales 52/53 (Paris 1984).
86
See Susan Desan, "Crowds, Community, and Ritual in the Work of E. P. Thompson
and Natalie Davis": Lynn Hunt (ed.), The New Cultural History (Berkeley 1989), pp. 47
- 7 2 , here: pp. 51 - 5 2 , and of course E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working
Class (New York 1963). Compare also Bourdieu, "Sozialer Raum" (note 85).
85
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The predominant "biracial" U. S. perspective also contrasts with
historical reality. The U. S. society was far more racially diverse than
has been popularly perceived. Other groups ranked as races other than
white, as well. Native Americans, for example, were deemed by white
society to belong to a different race, and were thusly treated. Chinese
and other Asians, too, suffered severe discrimination because of racial
attitudes. Perhaps the case of Mexicans, most strikingly, shows how
the concept of race changed over time. Following the U. S. conquest of
Mexican territory (1846-1848), Mexican inhabitants of the vanquished
lands were declared to be white and made U. S. citizens, though in
social practice they were not accepted as such. The perception of
Mexicans as a distinct, non-white race led the U. S. Census Bureau in
1930 to enumerate them as a "colored race". Since the Second World
War, Mexican Americans have been perceived more as an ethnic than
a racial group.
The diversity of races in the United States is seldom acknowledged
in historical literature. Even scholars who do acknowledge it, afterwards
call on the old image of a biracial U. S. society.87 This is not the case
with Richard White, who advocates a new paradigm of U. S. Western
history, one which emphasizes the regional complexity of race relations.88 Perhaps if other scholars of U. S. history had taken a closer
look at Latin America, they would have earlier acknowledged racial
diversity. Where U. S. historiography certainly can gain insights and
impulses for research from Latin America is the study of mulattoes.
Given the recent attention to issues of mixed race, historical studies on
the subject seem more urgently needed. 89
It seems worthwhile to compare the history of race relations in the
United States to those in Latin America or, at the very least, to take into
account research on the other region.90 Today's new understanding of
race as a social construction was largely made possible by developments
87
Dawley/Trotter, "Race and Class" (note 62), pp. 4 8 6 - 4 8 7 and p. 489.
Richard White, "Race Relations in the American West": American Quarterly 38
(Baltimore 1986), pp. 3 9 6 - 4 1 6 .
89
See Nash, "The Hidden History" (note 6).
90
Perhaps this agenda is mere wishful thinking, given the high degree of specialization in history, the growing body of literature on almost every region and period, and
increasing competition between scholars. While the conditions for historical research have
changed considerably during the past decades, the structure of the university system and
the "habitus" of scholars seem to be out-of-date, and tend to highly individualize research,
thereby inhibiting the formation of larger working groups.
88
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in cultural history; however, it might have come about earlier had
historians studied the varying definitions of race in the U. S. and Latin
America. At least, this delayed reconceptualization of race indicates the
power of ideas and representations in historical writing.
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