Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery Essay

Exclusively available on IvyPanda Available only on IvyPanda

The selected extracts come from the laws issued by the Virginia House of Burgesses in the 17th century. All of them include the concepts of race and ethnicity without actually using these words. From the modern perspective, each of the excerpts can be viewed as an illustration of racial profiling that connects the ethnic background of people, their skin color, country of origin, and religion to the concept of slavery. The provided laws emphasize the differences between the English, the Indigenous people, and the African slaves juxtaposing the former to the others as superior.

We will write a custom essay on your topic a custom Essay on Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery
808 writers online

There are two policies that particularly mention the background of the slaves as the determinant of their social status – December 1662-ACT XII and November 1682-ACT I.

December 1662 Act XII states: “all children borne in this country shalbe held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother”. This law discusses the social status of the children of mixed race and answers the question whether or not they are supposed to be enslaved automatically. Since African race is associated with slavery, the question basically asks whether or not the mixed race children are to be considered black. The answer is “yes”. Also, the law implies that mixed race children can be born only to African women. There is no statement concerning the children of white women and African men. This omission indicates the common practice of rape of enslaved women and rules that slavery is inherited along with the ethnicity.

November 1682-ACT I provides a strong characteristic of race connecting it to native religion and generalizing all slaves as people “who and whose parentage and native country are not Christian”.

The two laws contribute to the definition of race as skin color and cultural background and making it the critical feature to the law administration.

Print
Need an custom research paper on Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery written from scratch by a professional specifically for you?
808 writers online
Cite This paper
Select a referencing style:

Reference

IvyPanda. (2020, May 10). Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-in-usa-virginia-laws-on-slavery/

Work Cited

"Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery." IvyPanda, 10 May 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/racism-in-usa-virginia-laws-on-slavery/.

References

IvyPanda. (2020) 'Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery'. 10 May.

References

IvyPanda. 2020. "Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery." May 10, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-in-usa-virginia-laws-on-slavery/.

1. IvyPanda. "Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery." May 10, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-in-usa-virginia-laws-on-slavery/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery." May 10, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racism-in-usa-virginia-laws-on-slavery/.

Powered by CiteTotal, referencing maker
If you are the copyright owner of this paper and no longer wish to have your work published on IvyPanda. Request the removal
More related papers
Cite
Print
1 / 1