The Invention of the White Race (volume 2)

__The Invention of the White Race__ is a groundbreaking analysis of the birth of racism in America. When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, there were no “white” people, nor, according to colonial records, would there be for another sixty years. In his seminal two-volume work, Theodore W. Allen details the creation of the “white race” by the ruling class as a method of social control in response to labor unrest precipitated by Bacon’s Rebellion. By distinguishing European Americans from African Americans within the laboring class, white privileges enforced the myth of the white race through the years and has been central to maintaining ruling-class domination over the entire working class. Since its publication in the midnineties, __The Invention of the White Race__ has become indispensable in debates on the origins of racial oppression in America. Volume One examines Irish history to show the relativity of race and racial oppression as a form of social control. Volume Two details the development of racial oppression and racial slavery in colonial Virginia and, more broadly, Anglo-America. An introduction by Jeffrey B. Perry discusses Allen’s contributions, critical reception, and continuing importance. Book Jacket About the Author Review Title Page Copyright Dedication Acknowledgements Introduction to the Second Edition Introduction 1. The Anatomy of Racial Oppression The Irish Analogy The Hallmark of Racial Oppression From Analogy to Analysis: Colony versus Tribe Compelling Parallels The Persistence of Racial Oppression – by Policy Decision A Classic Case of Racial Oppression 2. Social Control and the Intermediate Strata: Ireland The First Strategy – the Anglo-Norman “Middle Nation” The Second Strategy – Surrender-and-Regrant The Third Strategy – Protestant Plantation Celtic Ireland in a New World Context Conquest by Famine Plantation – Once More Opting for Racial Oppression Ireland and General Principles of Colonial Social Control 3. Protestant Ascendancy and White Supremacy Why Not Chattel Bond-servitude? Penal Laws and “Race” Laws 4. Social Control: From Racial to National Oppression America and France, and the Spectre of Republicanism The Act of Union – a Role for the Catholic Bourgeoisie Defining Issues The Campaign for Catholic Emancipation The Tithe War of the Irish Peasantry The Repeal Campaign – Bidding for a Form of Independence The Decommissioning of the Protestant Yeomanry The Apprenticeship of the Catholic Bourgeoisie Affirmative Action to Implement the New Arrangement Making the Besiegers Part of the Garrison Of Divergence and Parallels 5. Ulster The Plantation of Ulster The Scottish Factor The Ulster Custom Intramural Tensions in Protestant Ulster Industrialization Governed by Ascendancy Principles Partition – the Salvation of Racial Oppression On General Principles 6. Anglo-America: Ulster Writ Large The Extirpation of the Native Social Order The Social Control “Anomalies” in America Reconstruction: Racial Oppression Challenged and Defended The Material Basis for the Abandonment of Reconstruction A Mutual Understanding Regarding Social Control The Organized White Workers The South Revisits the Problem of Social Control White-skin Privilege as a Depressor of Wage Levels Of Parallels and Intertwining 7. The Sea-change The Struggle over Racial Slavery The Developing Front against Slavery The Slaveholders’ Strategic Assessment The Irish-American Immigrants 8. How the Sea-change was Wrought The Two-front Attack on Abolitionism among Irish-Americans Attacking Abolitionism on the “Catholic-Irish” Front The Attack on the “White Worker” Front Irish-American Voters and the Annexation of Texas Acting as “Whites” The “Labor Competition” Rationale Re-examined The Pre-existing Logic Address from the people of Ireland to their Countrymen and Countrywomen in America1 Medieval Ireland (1169–1534) Early Modern Ireland (1534–1691) Ireland Under the Union (I) (1801–1870) Appendices Appendix A: (see Introduction, note 46) Appendix B: (see Introduction, note 80) Appendix C: (see Chapter 1, note 58 and Chapter 2, note 51) Appendix D (see Chapter 2, notes 42 and 73) Appendix F: (see Chapter 2, note 77) Appendix G: (see Chapter 2, note 108) Appendix H: (see Chapter 3, notes 8 and 9) Appendix I: (see Chapter 3, note 46) Appendix J: (see Chapter 4, note 107) Appendix K: (see Chapter 7, note 62) Appendix L: (see Chapter 7, note 80) Editor’s Appendix M: A Brief Biography of Theodore W. Allen Editor’s Appendix N: Notes to Encourage Engagement with Volume I Chronological Finding Aid Medieval Ireland (1169–1534) Early Modern Ireland (1534–1691) Eighteenth-century Ireland (1691–1800) Ireland Under the Union (I) (1801–1870) Notes Introduction 1. The Anatomy of Racial Oppression 2. Social Control and the Intermediate Strata: Ireland 3. Protestant Ascendancy and White Supremacy 4. Social Control: From Racial to National Oppression 5. Ulster 6. Anglo-America: Ulster Writ Large 7. The Sea-change 8. How the Sea-change was Wrought Appendix M Appendix N Index Groundbreaking analysis of the birth of racism in America, telling the story of how America's ruling classes created the category of the "white race" as a means of social control. Since that early invention, white privileges have enforced the myth of racial superiority, and that fact has been central to maintaining ruling-class domination over ordinary working people of all colors throughout American history. Volume I draws lessons from Irish history, comparing British rule in Ireland with the "white" oppression of Native Americans and African Americans. Allen details how Irish immigrants fleeing persecution learned to spread racial oppression in their adoptive country as part of white America. Volume II explores the transformation that turned African bond-laborers into slaves and segregated them from their fellow proletarians of European origin. In response to labor unrest, where solidarities were not determined by skin color, the plantation bourgeoisie sought to construct a buffer of poor whites, whose new racial identity would protect them from the enslavement visited upon African Americans.--From publisher description When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, there were no "white" people, nor, according to colonial records, would there be for another sixty years. In his seminal two-volume work, The Invention of the White Race , Allen details the creation of the "white race" by the ruling class as a method of social control, in response to labor unrest precipitated by Bacon's Rebellion. Distinguishing European Americans from African Americans within the laboring class, white privileges enforced the myth of the white race through the years and has been central to maintaining ruling-class domination over the entire working class. Since publication in the mid-nineties, Invention has become indispensable in debates on the origins of racial oppression in America. Volume One utilizes Irish history to show the relativity of race and racial oppression as a form of social control. Volume Two details the development of racial oppression and racial slavery in colonial Virginia and, more broadly, Anglo-America. A new introduction by Jeffrey B. Perry discusses Allen's contributions, critical reception and continuing importance.