Except they ended up structuring it very differently in the long run, with the one drop rule the norm in the US and mixed race people having a very different status in the rest of the Americas.
And at first, historians who write on the topic agree, these early slaves were treated as indentured servants by the English colonist and many were released. The first ship of enslaved Africans came from a portugese ship raided by privateers.
Most racial laws emerged in the 30s and 40s, even if there were some exceptions. This was how there was a free Black population and plenty of what we’d consider mixed race children in the colonies.
You do realize all that can be true and that Africans were also released from enslavement early on? This was a system that was built over time, meaning that the early iterations were not uniform.
And just to be clear, I am in no way defending the use of enslaved or indentured people by any Europeans. I’m pointing out that even the experience of chattel slavery in what became the United States was not uniform. It was in a process of refinement right up until the official passage of the 13th amendment and different people experienced enslavement in very different ways in different parts of the American south. Pointing out the historical specificity is in no way a defense, it’s attending to those distinctions.
And I don’t believe anything I’ve said here contradicts what Hogan said in their thread there, especially since he’s discussing Barbados primarily and the eventually integration of the North american colonies into the larger systems being built by the English…
Enslavement there seemed more similar to Latin American systems, where lighter skin meant higher status… of course, it was not official part of the US until the early 19th… They also had stronger ties to the Caribbean…
Yep, Colorism is yet another subset of racism that still affects not only the Black community in America but the entire African Diaspora across the world.
Well, that’s where change set in to bring NOLA in line with the rest of the US racial caste system. But I suspect that much of the ways of the locals were set. It’s why free Black women like Marie Laveau were able to carve out a space for themselves in polite society. Everyone likes to point out her work as a priestess, but the older racial caste system likely gave her space and respect from local whites as much as her ability to tap into the supernatural.
I loved that she was portrayed fabulously by Angela Bassett in AHS Coven, but the reality is that the real Marie Laveau was likely much fairer in complexion, especially given your astute point about manufactured racial castes.
I’ve never gotten around to watching AHS, but I was interested in that particular season (as it was set in NOLA).
Yeah, all racial caste systems are manufactured and shitty ways to organize human life… but same with any caste system, honestly. At some point, we (meaning humanity) have to move past any sort of caste system to something better, more egalitarian, more sustainable.
