ANTH 1003 Lecture : Anthropology1003 Notes-Oct. 10
Friday, October 10, 2014
Racial Stratification: Brazil and the United States
• Brazil’s race relations are often contrasted with those of the United States.
o Both had plantation slave economies
o Slavery in both societies lasted until the second half of the 19th century
Brazil:
• A class-stratified society in which “race” is only one of many criteria, including
education, wealth, and land ownership, that govern social status and social mobility
• Sometimes brazil is given as an example of a society where race doesn’t matter, but racial
categories strongly correlate with class and social status and there is stigma attached to
blackness
The United States
• Race is constructed based on skin color and presumed ancestry – the “one-drop” rule – it
is also a system of hypodescent (one is placed in the lower status category in cases of
mixed “race” ancestry)
• By the 20th century, the system of race in the American south was very much like the
caste system in India
• This changed after the civil rights movement and desegregation, although racism is still
an issue in the US
Plessy v. Ferguson
• Civil protest in 1891, against a law passed in 1890 (Separate Car Act)
• Citizens Committee in Louisiana
• Ferguson the son of a free man of color (gens de couleurs libres) – octoroon (7/8
“white”), could pass for white
• Took local train from New Orleans’ Faubourg Marigny toward north shore, stopped,
refused to move to black section, arrested
• Case went to Supreme Court, ruled “separate but equal” – allowed establishment of Jim
Crow laws and legal segregation
Document Summary
Racial stratification: brazil and the united states: brazil"s race relations are often contrasted with those of the united states, both had plantation slave economies, slavery in both societies lasted until the second half of the 19th century. Plessy v. ferguson: civil protest in 1891, against a law passed in 1890 (separate car act, citizens committee in louisiana, ferguson the son of a free man of color (gens de couleurs libres) octoroon (7/8. White ), could pass for white: took local train from new orleans" faubourg marigny toward north shore, stopped, refused to move to black section, arrested, case went to supreme court, ruled separate but equal allowed establishment of jim. The doll test: dr. kenneth clark and his wife mamie created this experiment to use in the case of. Race and the us census: 1850 census (first to count all people, rather than just head of household) included only 3 categories.
