2. “It’s time for black people to stop playing the
separating game of geography, of where the
slave ship put us down. We must concentrate
on where the slave ship picked us up.”
~ Hon. John Henrik Clarke
4. Vocabulary
• Race or Racial Group- the categorization of
humans into populations or groups on the basis
of various sets of heritable characteristics.
• Ethnic group- a group of human beings whose
members identify with each other, through a common
heritage that is real or presumed (cultural, linguistic,
religious, behavioral or biological traits of contrast to
other groups)
• Pan-ethnicity- is the grouping together and labeling of
various ethnicities into one all-encompassing group.
(dark skin =African-American regardless of their
country of origin.
5. Vocabulary (continued)
• Minority- a sociological group that does not
constitute a politically dominant voting majority
of the total population of a given society.
• Racism- “The predication (declare; affirm; imply) of
decisions & policies on considerations of race for the
purpose of subordinating a racial group & maintaining
control over the group”
• Maafa- (aka the African Holocaust or Holocaust of
Enslavement) is a word derived from the Swahili term for
disaster, terrible occurrence or great tragedy. The term
refers to the 500 years of suffering of Africans and the
African diaspora, through
slavery, imperialism, colonialism, invasion, oppression, de
humanization and exploitation.
6. Vocabulary (continued)
• Bigot- One who is strongly partial to one's own
group, religion, race, or politics and is
intolerant of those who differ in creed, belief, or
opinion.
• WASP- a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant; A
member of the privileged, established white
upper middle class in the U.S.
7. What is ―Black‖?
black/blæk/ –adjective
1. lacking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of the
rays composing it.
2. characterized by absence of light; enveloped in darkness: a black night.
3. (sometimes initial capital letter) a. pertaining or belonging to any of the
various populations characterized by dark skin pigmentation, specifically
the dark-skinned peoples of Africa, Oceania, and Australia. b. African-
American
4. soiled or stained with dirt: That shirt was black within an hour.
5. gloomy; pessimistic; dismal: a black outlook.
6. deliberately; harmful; inexcusable: a black lie.
7. boding ill; sullen or hostile; threatening: black words; black looks.
8. (of coffee or tea) without milk or cream.
9. without any moral quality or goodness; evil; wicked: His black heart has
concocted yet another black deed.
10. indicating censure, disgrace, or liability to punishment: a black mark on
one's record.
8. What is being ―Black‖? (continued)
black/blæk/ –adjective
11. marked by disaster or misfortune: black areas of drought; Black
Friday.
12. wearing black or dark clothing or armor: the black prince.
13. based on the grotesque, morbid, or unpleasant aspects of life:
black comedy; black humor.
14. (of a check mark, flag, etc.) done or written in black to indicate,
as on a list, that which is undesirable, sub-standard, potentially
dangerous, etc.: Pilots put a black flag next to the ten most
dangerous airports.
15. illegal or underground: The black economy pays no taxes.
16. showing a profit; not showing any losses: the first black quarter
in two years.
17. deliberately false or intentionally misleading: black propaganda.
18. British. boycotted, as certain goods or products by a trade union.
19. (of steel) in the form in which it comes from the rolling mill or
forge; unfinished.
9. By Definition…
Is the term ―black‖ a
positive or a negative way
to describe the African-
American Community?
Explain.
11. Think About It!
• As it is said in the clip to Malcolm X aka
Denzel, “Who are you”?
• What labels do you use to describe yourself?
12. Think About It!
• If not “black”, then what?
▫ Afro/African-Arab
Mixed African and genealogical Arab ancestral heritage and/or
linguistically and culturally Arabized Africans. This also includes
descendants of African slaves who were brought to the Arab world
during the Arab slave trade.
▫ Afro/African-Latin
person of at least partial African ancestry More commonly, when
referring to cultural aspects of African origin within specific
countries of Latin America, terms carry an Afro- prefix followed
by the relevant nationality. Examples include Afro-Cuban and
Afro-Brazilian
▫ Afro/African-Caribbean
Caribbean people of full or at least partial African ancestry .
▫ Afro/African-European
people with Sub-Saharan African ancestry, cultural and social
heritage who were born in a European country or migrated to
Europe from Africa.
13. Think About It! (continued)
▫ Afro/African-Asian
people of African ascent as well as Asian ascent and or African
people living within the Asian continent
▫ Afro/African-Indian/Native-American
people of African ascent as well as Native American ascent, who
were, or are, embedded with Native Americans, or who possess
strong cultural, social and political ties to their indigenous
American heritage.
▫ Afro/African-Misc
Caribbean Canadians
African Canadians
Gullah
African-Australian
▫ Emancipated African (EA) -or- Afro/African-American (AA)
Partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry, the direct descendants of
captive Africans who survived the slavery era within the boundaries
of the present US. This term can also apply to immigrants from
African, Caribbean, Central American or South American nations.
▫ African
Applies to all peoples with full to partial African ancestry. This
includes people who live in Africa, or people who trace their
ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa.
14. What is being ―African‖ or
―African-American‖?
• Identity includes the adoption of personal
behaviors and identification with a group of people
with similar characteristics.
Note that persons within an ethnic group should not be
assumed to be alike
• in culture, philosophy, and history
• Afrocentric theory
15. OK….ok ok ok!
• Now that we have a
label in which to call
ourselves, how do we
“act” the part?
16. Cross’s Nigrescence Model
• A major contribution to the understanding of the African
American personality has been the Nigrescence models
a.k.a. racial identity development theory
• “Nigrescence” is defined as the “developmental process by
which a person becomes Black, where Black is defined as a
psychological connection with one’s race rather than
pertaining to their skin color” The model also posits that
individuals go through several stages in developing an
awareness of individual and collective racial identity.
17. The Nigrescence
attitudes
• The nigrescence attitudes include:
▫ Preencounter
▫ Encounter
▫ Immersion-emersion
▫ Internalization
18. Cross’s Nigrescence Model
Describes Black American process of self-actualization;
measures 4 themes of racial identity:
1) Pre-encounter : pre-discovery of one’s racial identity
▫ attitudes are pro-white and anti-black
▫ thinks in terms of White frame of reference
(devalues/denies Blackness)
▫ does not realize implications of being a Black American
(sees society as “colorless” or “colorblind”)
2) Encounter : significant racial incident causes the
individual to explore their Black identity
▫ individual makes a conscience decision to develop a
Black identity
19. Cross’s Nigrescence Model
3) Immersion-emersion : following the encounter
experience, the individual immerses himself in
Black culture
▫ wears ethnic clothing
▫ black hairstyles
▫ associates only with Blacks
4) Internalization : individuals become comfortable
with racial identity
▫ wants to be acknowledged for being Black
▫ more aware of what being Black means
▫ recognizes and appreciates other ethnic heritages
21. Race A social concept, but biologically unsupportable!
22. Is race in our genes or just in our heads?
Most of us can see differences in
humans: skin color, eye color, hair are
obvious.
We, and most others in the world, tend
to use these traits to categorize people.
Morally, many of us understand the
ramifications of our use of these
categories and the harm they have
brought and can bring.
We need to understand the difference
between what is essentially a sociological
view of race rather than a biological view
of race.
23. Activity!!!
If you were walking down the
street, would you identify the
following people ―African
American‖
YES (Left) NO (Right)
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52. OPINIONS
How would the people who you
identified as ―‖African-American be
treated in society?
How would the people who you
identified as ―non-African American‖
be treated?
GIVE EXAMPLES!
53. A biological view of race:
“The anatomy of a given racial group is used in comparison with
that of other racial groups to investigate how people adapt to
environments.”
It is essentially "value free."
54. A sociological view of race:
Race is used as a means of determining
how a person should be related to or
treated, either on a personal level or
under some aspect of the law.
Race is a modern idea; ancient
societies did not divide people of
physical features, but by
language, wealth, status, religion, or
class.
55. Early Racial Classifications
Homer (fl. 1200 - 850 B.C.E.) Homer
•Iliad and Odyssey acknowledge variability
•Aethiopians: People at the eastern and western edges of
the
known world
•Cubit-men: African (?) pygmies
Herodotus
Herodotus (484?-425? B.C.E.)
•Historiae argues for an environmental cause of
variability
between human groups
•Egyptians have strong skulls due to exposure
•Persian skulls are brittle due to the use of felt hats
Hippocrates (460 - 377 B.C.E.)
•Environmental influences on human variability are
noted in
Volume I of Corpus Hippocraticum
•Body build and temperament of different peoples are
said to Hippocrates
be related to their climate and life style
56. Early Racial
Classifications
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
Claims environmental causes of physical
variation in humans
Wooly hair of Aethiopians due to arid climate
Aristotle
Straight hair of Scythians due to moist air
St. Augustine (354-430)
In De Civitate Dei Contra Paganos he says all
men born everywhere, no matter how strange
they appear to us, are descended from
Adam, i.e., are descended from a single ancestral
stock
St. Augustine
57. Differential Worth: The Beginnings
Races are ranked on various
criteria judged to assess
intelligence or moral standards
The rankings are used either to
bolster the scala naturae or
proto-evolutionary relationships
Such rankings are highly
subjective and loaded with
potential for ethnocentric
abuse, with the highest rank
always being reserved for the race
of the person doing the ranking
58. Carolus Linnaeus, 1707 – 1778
Viewed the task of classification as one of attempting to
understand the natural laws of the Scala Naturae (the
ladder of nature)
Races according to Linnaeus
• Americanus: Red, choleric, erect
• Europaeus: White, fickle, sanguine, blue-
eyed, gentle, governed by laws
• Asiaticus: Sallow, grave, dignified, avaricious, ruled by
opinion
• Afer: Black, choleric, obstinate, contented, regulated by
customs
• Ferus: Wild man, walks on all fours, hairy
• Troglodytes: You wouldn't believe it
• Monstrous: Giants, mutants
59. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, 1752 - 1840
German Anatomy Professor
Father of Physical Anthropology
Father of Craniology
Founder of Anthropology in Germany
On the Natural Variety of Mankind (1775)
•We owe much of our view of the races to him, but he was
probably one of the least racist people of his time.
•Advocated Monogenism
•Proposed a system for classifying humans into five different
races based on the shape of the skull
•Using a skull from the Caucasus mountains as the perfect
European form, he claimed his four other races degenerated
from this group :
•Caucasoid (Europeans), Mongoloid (Asians), American
(Native Americans), Ethiopian (Africans), and Malayan
(Southeast Asians)
60. Samuel George Morton, 1799 - 1851
Physician from Philadelphia
•Polygenist, convinced of inferiority of
African populations
•Measured cranial capacity (volume of
braincase) to assess differential worth
•Very careful technician, published
extensive list of measurements of
cranial capacities
61. Pierre Paul Broca, 1824 - 1880
Founder of French Anthropology
First Society of Anthropology (1859)
First School of Anthropology (1876)
•Instigated the study of Craniometry
•Attempted to quantify differential worth
•Ratio of radius to humerus: a high ratio is ape-
like, hence lower worth.
•Found Caucasians scored higher than
Hottentots, Eskimos, and Australians
•He discarded the ratio in favor of measures with
whites furthest from the apes
•Brain size: bigger is better
•Men > Women
•Eminent Men > Mediocre Men
•Superior races (Caucasian) > Inferior (Other
races)
62. Stereotypes
A popular belief about specific types
of individuals based on sweeping
generalizations
67. Racial Privilege
• Sociologists Noël A. Cazenave and Darlene
Alvarez Maddern define racism as “...a highly
organized system of 'race'-based group
privilege that operates at every level of society
and is held together by a sophisticated ideology
of color/'race' supremacy. It all boils down to:
• Economic Power
• Political Power
68. White Privilege: Unpacking
the Invisible Knapsack
• In 1988, Peggy McIntosh
wrote this essay about the
different unspoken
privileges utilized by
Caucasian Americans in
their daily life while
working on issues of
feminism and male
privilege…
69. White Privilege: Unpacking
the Invisible Knapsack
• “I decided to try to work on myself at least by
identifying some of the daily effects of white
privilege on my life. I have chosen those
conditions which I think in my case attach
somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to
class, religion, ethnic status, or geographical
location, though of course all these other
factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I
can see, my African American co-
workers, friends and acquaintances with whom
I come into daily or frequent contact in this
particular time, place and line of work cannot
count on most of these conditions.”
70. Activity!!!
1. Count off by eight and join the
people with the same number.
2. In you groups discuss the list
complied by Peggy Macintosh &
answer the following question:
• Why are these issues important to a
deeper understanding race based
oppression, power, privilege, and
resistance?
74. Skin Color Production
Skin color is due primarily to the presence of a pigment called
melanin .
Both light and dark complexioned people have this pigment.
However, two forms are produced—pheomelanin, which is red to
yellow in color, and eumelanin, which is dark brown to black.
People with light complexioned skin mostly produce
pheomelanin, while those with dark colored skin mostly produce
eumelanin.
To a lesser extent, the color is affected by the presence of fat under
the skin and carotene, a reddish-orange pigment in the skin.
75. The Importance of Melanin
Melanin provides many benefits to human beings.
•Melanin in humans is found dispersed throughout the body, in the
skin, hair, eye, adrenal gland (chiefly responsible for regulating the stress
response through the body chemical change of corticosteroids ( which control
stress response, immune response and regulation of
inflammation, carbohydrate break down, protein break down, blood salt
levels, and behavior) and catecholamines ("fight-or-flight“
hormones), including cortisol (the "stress hormone" as it is involved in
response to stress and anxiety. It increases blood pressure and blood sugar, and
reduces immune responses) and found inside the ear and the brain. It is
necessary in order for the brain and nerves to operate and the cells to
reproduce.
•At the core of your brain is the "locus coeruleus," a structure that is dark in
pigmentation because it contains large amounts of Melanin which is essential in
order for it to operate! In fact, all the most crucial brain structures are heavily
melanized. "Brain melanin is concentrated in a region that functions as a gate
for all sensory, motor, emotional and motivational input and output" as well as
a region that mediates conscious awareness
76. The Importance of Melanin (continued)
•Freckles, which occur in people of all races, are small, concentrated areas of
increased melanin production
•Melanin provides a natural protection against the harmful effects of ultraviolet
rays of the sun.
•Melanin is a mechanism for absorbing heat from the sun.
•Melanin is a key ingredient in the DNA of the genes, and protects the DNA
nucleus.
•Melanin is centrally involved in controlling all mental and physical body
activities
•It is important for sharpness of vision; melanin serves to minimize the number
of light beams that enter the eye. It also provides for the absorption of scattered
light within the eye. In this way, pigmentation allows for more keen sight.
•Melanin is abundantly present at the inception of life: a Melanin sheath covers
both the sperm and the egg.! In the human embryo, the melanocytes (skin
pigment cells), the brain, and the nerve cells all originate from the same place;
the neural crest.
