Please take several minutes to write down a personal response to the following
questions
1. What does Jim Crow mean to you?
2. What does black face mean to you?
3. What does black face memorabilia mean to you?
Slavery Timeline
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmtimeline.html
Slavery Timeline
Key Dates
1619 – The first African slaves
arrive in Virginia
1776 – Continental Congress adopts
the Declaration of Independence in
the Philadelphia (July 4)
1787 – Slavery is made illegal in the
Northwest Territory (Great Lakes
region…Wis. Minnesota, Ohio,
Michigan, etc)
1793 – A federal fugitive slave law
is enacted, providing for the return
of slaves who had escaped and
crossed state lines
1808 – Congress bans the
importation of slaves from Africa
1820 – The Missouri Compromise
bans slavery north of the southern
boundary of Missouri
1840-1860‟s Underground Railroad
- A loosely organized system for
helping fugitive slaves escape to
Canada or to areas of safety in free
states, run by both Whites and free
Blacks
1857 – The Dred Scott Case holds
that Congress does not have the
right to ban slavery in the territories,
and that slaves are not citizens
Slavery Timeline
1861 – The Confederacy is founded
when the deep South secedes, and
the Civil War begins
1863 – President Lincoln issues the
Emancipation Proclamation,
declaring “that all person held as
slaves” within the Confederate
states” are, and henceforward shall
be free.”
1865 – The Civil War ends
1865 – Lincoln is assassinated
1865 – The Ku Klux Klan is formed
in Tennessee by ex-Confederates
1865 – 13th Amendment is ratified,
prohibiting slavery
1865-1867 – Black Codes: laws
passed by most southern states that
restricted the rights of former
African American slaves
1868 – 14th Amendment is ratified,
declaring Blacks were citizens of
the U.S.
1870 – 15th Amendment is ratified,
giving blacks the right to vote
Slavery Timeline
1865-1876 – Reconstruction the
period of adjustment following the
civil war in which federal efforts
were made to improve the lives of
former slaves
1877 – Reconstructions ends in the
South. Federal attempts to provide
some basic civil rights for African
Americans quickly erodes
1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson: A
landmark Supreme Court decision
holds that racial segregation is
constitutional, paving the way for
the repressive Jim Crow laws in the
South
1939–1945 – WWII
Jim Crow Racism
Big Picture
• Prior to WWII, open prejudice
and discrimination by Whites
towards Blacks was the norm
*White people who were not prejudice
were considered strange
*Being called a “Nigger-lover was
considered an insult
• Whites held minstrel shows, in
which they would wear black face
and perform, depicting blacks in
negatively stereotype fashion
• p. 195
Jim Crow Racism
Jim Crow: A term describing the
American racist culture against
blacks, it originated as a derogatory
way of depicting black people in the
minstrel shows of early 19th
century America. Thomas
Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice
popularized the term by marking
his face with burned cork or a
charcoal paste (known as black face),
dressing in sloppy clothes, and
dancing a silly jig while grinning
broadly.
Historian Charles Reagan Wilson,
director of the Center for the Study
of Southern Culture at the
University of Mississippi, claims
that Rice was inspired by the
performance he had seen in
Louisville, Kentucky, by an elderly
slave owned by a Mr. Crow. By
1860, the term was a common part
of the nation's vocabulary.
Abolitionist speakers used the term
in the 1840s to describe segregated
railroad car for blacks and whites:
the northern black cars were Jim
Crow cars.
Jim Crow Racism
On the eve of the Civil War, the
universal image of the silly Jim
Crow minstrel character provided
southern whites with one of many
stereotypical images of black
inferiority that were a fundamental
component of white popular
culture. By the 1890s, the term had
come to mean the separation of
blacks from whites and the general
customs and laws that subordinated
blacks as an inferior people.
Historians have used the term in
reference to the process of
segregation or setting the races
apart--sometimes meaning
customary or informal segregation
and sometimes meaning legal or
codified segregation.
Jim Crow Racism
Components
1. Whites were inherently and
biologically superior
Jim Crow Racism
Components
1. Whites were inherently and
biologically superior
2. It is right and proper to keep
minorities segregated
Jim Crow Racism
Components
1. Whites were inherently and
biologically superior
2. It is right and proper to keep
minorities segregated
3. Laws and gov‟t should be used to
enact this segregation
*School segregation
*Voting rights
Please take several minutes to write down a personal response to the
following questions
1. Do you think that with the election of Barack Obama America is a “postracial” nation?
2. Do you think that defining America as “post-racial” can help or hurt race
relations? Why?
How Has Prejudice Changed?
“You start out in 1954 by saying „Nigger, nigger, nigger.‟ By 1968, you can‟t
say „nigger‟ –that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing,
states‟ rights, and all that stuff. [By 1981] you‟re getting so abstract [that]
you‟re talking about cutting taxes and all these…totally economic things and
a by-product of them is that blacks get hurt worse than whites. And
subconsciously maybe that is part of it… Obviously sitting around and
saying, „We want to cut this,‟ is much more abstract than even the busing
thing and a hell of a lot more abstract that „Nigger, nigger.‟
–Anonymous member of Ronald Reagan‟s white house staff discussing racial
politics in an interview with Alexander Lamis (1984, p. 26N)
What prompted the change?
• Before and during WWII (1940s),
the U.S. drummed up support for
the war by distributing propaganda
that portrayed the Nazi‟s ideology
as racist and un-American
• Thus, the concept of racism was
portrayed as „un-American‟
• This sentiment was eventually
applied to America itself
“It is becoming increasingly
apparent to thoughtful form of
imperialism at home… Our very
proclamations of what we are
fighting for have rendered our own
inequalities self-evident. When we
talk of freedom of opportunity for
all nations, the mocking paradoxes
in our own society become so clear
that they can no longer be ignored.”
-Wendell Wilkie, republican
presidential candidate
What prompted the change?
• The cold war brought more of the
same: How could the America
criticize communist governments
for violating the civil liberties of
their citizens while not granting full
equality to all U.S. citizens?
• By 1954, racial equality was
formally established as an American
norm by the Supreme Court
decision in Brown v. Board of
Education that made segregated
school illegal
So, Only Bad People Are Prejudice…
So Only Bad People Are Prejudice…
• 74% of White respondents to a 2008
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation
poll said discrimination against Black
people was not a problem in their
communities (PollingReport.com,
2008)
• 39% of Black people said racism is
not a problem in their community
(PollingReport, 2008)
So Only Bad People Are Prejudice…
• Whites consistently express more
prejudice when assessed under “bogus
pipeline” conditions
*Suggesting explicit attitude
measures are not representative
• Physiological measures: whites tend to
demonstrate physiological reactions that
correlate with negative emotions when
interacting with blacks
• Whites are less willing to demonstrate
helping behavior toward blacks
Principles
Principles of All Theories
1. There has been a genuine change
in America‟s social norms since
WWII
2. Not everyone has accepted this
norm to the same degree
3. Even those who have not fully
accepted the norm are motivated to
act in nonprejudiced ways
Big Picture and Characteristics
Big Picture
Characteristics
• Blacks and minorities are viewed
as abstract groups “they,” not as
individuals
2. Any remaining Black-White
differences in economic outcomes
result from Black people‟s lack of
motivation to work hard
• Whites do not see these views as
prejudice
• Prejudice is not linked directly to
race, but rather to social/political
issues
Characteristics
1. Racial prejudice and
discrimination no longer exist
3. Blacks anger over equality is
unjustified (because they are
unwilling to work to get what they
want)
4. Relative to White people, Black
people have been getting more than
they deserve economically
Psychological Bases
Psychological Bases
1. Mild to moderate anti-Black
emotions (negative affect)
* On a 100-point scale (higher
scores = more positive), Whites‟
feelings toward Blacks averaged
60 in 1964, and 63 in 1996
2. Belief in traditional values
• Hard work, individualism, selfreliance
• Perception is that black people fail
to act in accordance with modern
values
Psychological Bases
3. Low outcome-based
egalitarianism
• People have dif. definitions of
equality
Equality of opportunity: The
principle that everyone should have
an equal, fair chance at success in
life
Equality of outcome: The belief
that government should ensure that
everyone should receive a
reasonably equal share of society‟s
resources
Prejudice to Discrimination
From Prejudice To Discrimination
• Whites desire to maintain a nonprejudice self-concept
• Whites will act in discriminatory
ways only when it can be attributed
to nonracial causes
Class Activity
• In groups of two create a character
who has the characteristics of
modern-symbolic prejudice
• Write an argumentative statement
from the perspective of a modernsymbolic racist
• Your topic is opposition low-income
housing (subsidized housing)
• Thus, write an opinion statement
about low-income housing from the
perspective of someone who exhibits
modern-symbolic racism
•Provide a thorough summary of the
reasons why this person is what they
believe
• Note, this is not to say everyone
who opposes this is someone who
would be characterized by modernsymbolic prejudice, but your job is
to create a clear description that
encompasses the elements of this
theory.
Big Picture and Characteristics
Big Picture
• Prejudice in which people will try
to avoid contact with minorities
groups
• People are generally very
supportive of social equality
Characteristics
1. Interaction causes personal
anxiety or discomfort, and people
with aversive prejudice will try to
disengage quickly
2. Strict codes of behavior are
demonstrated in unavoidable
interaction
Psychological Bases
Psychological Bases
• Individuals internalize egalitarian
beliefs, but also negative emotions
• The conflict between these
inconsistent values leads to
conflicting feelings about minority
groups
Aversive Prejudice and Behavior
Behavior
1. Avoidance of intergroup contact
*People experience anxiety from
interactions, thus avoid contact
Interactions in College
• 92% of Whites said they would sit
next to a Black student in class
• 84% said they would eat at the same
table as a Black student
• Only 42% of Whites said they would
be willing to have a black roommate
• Only 12% said they would be willing
to date a black student
Where does the anxiety come
from?
• Prior negative experience
• Lack of knowledge about the other
group makes people feel uncertain about
how to behave
• Concern over stigma by association
Scripted Situations
p. 210
Aversive Prejudice and Behavior
Behavior
2. Overly positive intergroup
behavior
*Fear of being seen as prejudice
3. Derogation of higher status
minority group members
*Dovidio & Gaertner, 1981
*Individuals are negatively biased
toward superior blacks
*But positively biased toward
subordinate blacks
Class Activity
Take several minutes to describe
your experiences with Aversive
prejudice. All perspectives are valid.
• Have you ever been subject to it?
• Have you ever potentially reacted
in such a way that would be
classified as an aversive-type
reaction?