Racism Exposed In The White Man's Burden

The historical background of racism white Americans have towards black Americans and the introduction to racial attitudes and discrimination in America is thoroughly addressed by Winthrop Jordan in The White Man’s Burden. Jordan abundantly documents the substantial evolution of slavery’s form. He begins the analysis by describing when the Englishmen first traveled to West Africa and the numerous encounters they had with the Africans. The Englishmen would regular navigate to Africa, but only to trade goods with the Natives. Jordan writes how the African man was generally recognized as just another sort of man to the Englishmen. However, over time this perception would drastically change. The Englishmen began seeing themselves very different from the …show more content…
He discusses enslavement in the West Indies and how it influenced slavery to lead into British America. In the first couple of chapters is where Jordan establishes his argument. He points out that the immense difference in the English Americans and the Africans was surely the fundamental cause of the degradation of the Africans. Jordan argued that prejudice in color made the Africans that were brought to America more appropriate for the purpose of servitude. The concept slavery made the Africans, who were now called Negroes, undoubtedly inferior to even the poorest white man and also marking them to fall in the lowest status of the society.
The subconscious fears of miscegenation with the negroes and white Americans led to legal restrictions on free Negroes and also Slave Codes sanctions. In 1662, Virginia regulated any intercourse with a negro man or woman and also doubling the fine for the act. Also, Maryland went on to regulate interracial marriages in 1664 and calling the Negroes a "disgrace of our Nation" and "shameful Matches." The insufficient amount of rights that the free Negroes had were taken away in a progressively