Racism and Race Relations

• Racist theory– In the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, it was theorized that

races were, essentially, genetically distinct subspecies– Further, it was held that some races were, by nature, inferior to

others– White people, particularly those who traced their descent from

Northern Europe, were held to be the most intelligent and civilized• This theory was used as an excuse to oppress minority groups in the US

This was not a fringe theory, but was the generally accepted idea among political and academic leaders. Example:"negroid peoples, the so-called "hamitic," and bastard semitic, races of eastern middle Africa were ‘not fit’ to compete with whites and it would take ‘many thousands years” before the Black became even “as intellectual as the [ancient] Athenian.” – President Theodore Roosevelt

Research

• You will be researching one of the following four topics1. Segregated schools for children of Mexican descent2. Mexican-American Debt Peonage3. Toleration and discrimination in San Francisco4. Chinese response to the anti-Chinese movement

• First, you need to log on to jstor• You need to find an article about your topic and record the

following on your paper – The title of the article – The name of the author – 3-5 sentences (in your own words) summarizing what your article

says about your topic