History of systemic oppression in the USA.
American society was built on the ideals of liberty, concord, and fraternity. However, a history of social injustices hangs over America based on color, gender, and class, creating a non-cohesive society where competition has created a reality of marginalization. According to Horowitz et al., 58 percent of Americans believe that race relations are strained while Horowitz & Igielnik state that “about three-in-ten men say women’s gains have come at the expense of men.” Most importantly, oppression in the USA has been perpetrated by systems and institutions over time. This paper will dissect institutions that perpetrated oppression in precolonial America, how the oppressed adopted a variety of mechanisms to fight the oppression and the question of intersectional oppression.
Identify and discuss systems and institutions of oppression and their impact on targeted groups based on race, class, gender/sexuality and/or ethnicity during the covered period
Slavery is one of the major systems of oppression in precolonial America. It involved the use of black laborers in white farms and factory lines. Octavia (pg. 16) elucidates the harrowing experience of slaves in the hands of the white masters who would order them around the whole day and still whip them for trivialities. These experiences caused slaves trauma, distress, physical injuries, and even death. Schneider (pg. 4) notes that few whites thought of slavery as a moral issue, pointing to the casual and inhumane approach with which slavery was treated. The family was another institution of oppression aimed at obstructing women. Zinn (pg. 94) notes that women were reduced to a position of a house slave by their patronizing male partners, a practice that would become difficult to uproot over time. Classism is another embedded form of oppression that pre-colonial America experienced. According to Zinn (pg. 38), Virginians in Bacon’s rebellion complained that aristocrats had pushed them to find land in the areas occupied by hostile Indian communities. Furthermore, the laws were oppressive, and taxes excessive against the poor.
How did these various groups resist, challenge, and overcome these varied forms of oppression?
Over time, the oppressed groups decided to take action to overturn the unjust conditions in which they lived. The slaves decided to mobilize and rise against their slave masters. (Zinn, pg. 157) states that “the largest slave revolt in the United States took place near New Orleans in 1811”, a monumental milestone for the slaves. Zinn (Ch. 9) describes efforts of the abolitionist movement to liberate slaves at all costs. Zinn (pg. 109) also notes that women became involved in movements of “reform, antislavery, temperance, dress styles, prison conditions-turned”, to experience more confidence and control. One of these women was Angelina Grimke. Bacon’s Declaration of the people of July 1676 demonstrated the popular resentment against the rich and for a long time was seen as a symbol of the rise of the poor masses against the rich (Zinn, pg. 40). These events highlight the commitment of the oppressed groups to change the oppressive social and economic conditions in which they lived.
Can you compare and contrast and/or discuss the intersections of varied historical experiences?
Intersectional oppression is an age-old phenomenon whose existence and awareness have been highlighted in recent times by social scholars. Jones et al. (1) define intersectionality as the interrelation of gender, race, and class oppression. This perspective has grown over time thanks to the efforts of feminists highlighting the experiences of black women in America and other places in the world. The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in the 1860s was marred with racist oppression of Chinese workers who usually contended with pay as low as one or two dollars a day (Zinn, pg. 235). The construction of the railroad was completed with four families having control of the capital and returns from the railroad. This classic example sets out the connection of circles of oppression. Classism and gender oppression cross paths in the prosecution of ‘poor’ women who had children outside wedlock while the men were spared (Zinn, pg. 98).
How does this approach to history inform your understanding and analysis of current social justice issues today?
The approach to history that encompasses systemic oppression helps to give a perspective to the fight against oppression. Through pointing out the roots of embedded racism, classism, and gender inequality, historians are better able to find solutions to social injustice today. This method allows a historian to discern historical injustices through slavery to understand the trauma that male black people undergo and the intersectional oppression experienced by black women in the US. These experiences could explain the embedded judicial injustices against the black community. Schulzke et al. (pg. 1092) explain that the judicial system has been used to settle cultural disputes by passing laws that block minorities from accessing certain rights. They are also able to discern the class issues that paved the way for class struggles in modern America. This understanding is critical in diffusing class tensions.
Institutionalized injustice has thrived in America due to the long historical background in the formative years of the nation. Women, blacks, and poor people have been oppressed through slavery, unfair social rules, exploitative economic and political systems. However, these groups have over time taken up the struggle against the imperial forces that have established dominion over them. This has been characterized by slave rebellions, women liberation movements, and popular uprising. The intersectionality of oppression is another issue that plagues the already suffering groups and requires a historical understanding of the injustices to find meaningful solutions.
Works cited
Butler, Octavia E. Kindred. Beacon Press, 2003.
Horowitz, Julia, and Ruth Igielnik. “A Century After Women Gained the Right To Vote, Majority of Americans See Work To Do on Gender Equality.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. N.p., 09 July 2020. Web. 15 July 2020.
Horowitz, J., Anna Brown, and Kiana Cox. “Race in America 2019.” Pew Research Center 9 (2019).
Jones, Katherine Castiello, Joya Misra, and K. McCurley. “Intersectionality in sociology.” Sociologists for Women< https://www. socwomen. org/fact-sheets (2013).
Schneider, Dorothy, and Carl J. Schneider. Slavery in America. Infobase Publishing, 2014.
Schulzke, Marcus, and Amanda Cortney Caroll. “Culture and the court: The judiciary as an arbiter of cultural disputes in the USA.” Cultural studies 28.5-6 (2014): 1078-1102.
Zinn, Howard. A people’s history of the United States. Pan Macmillan, 2014.