![]() ![]() The word “white” held a different meaning, too, and transformed over time. Historically, who belonged to the category of “white” would expand as people wanted to push back against the increasing numbers of people of color due to emancipation and immigration. Initially, it referred only to Anglo-Saxon people. The racial identity of “white” has evolved throughout history. ![]() This categorization of people became a justification for European colonization and subsequent enslavement of people from Africa. Over centuries, the false notion that “white” people were inherently smarter, more capable, and more human than nonwhite people became accepted worldwide. These new beliefs, which evolved starting in the late 17th century and flourished through the late 18th century, argued that there were natural laws that governed the world and human beings. Philosophers and naturalists were categorizing the world anew and extending such thinking to the people of the world. During the 17th century, European Enlightenment philosophers’ based their ideas on the importance of secular reasoning, rationality, and scientific study, as opposed to faith-based religious understandings of the world. The modern-day use of the term “race” (identifying groups of people by physical traits, appearance, or characteristics) is a human invention. The term “race,” used infrequently before the 1500s, was used to identify groups of people with a kinship or group connection. Instead, the needs of the developing American society would transform those words’ meanings into new ideas. ![]() However, the words did not have the meanings that they have today. The concept of “race,” as we understand it today, evolved alongside the formation of the United States and was deeply connected with the evolution of two other terms, “white” and “slave.” The words “race,” “white,” and “slave” were all used by Europeans in the 1500s, and they brought these words with them to North America. To more accurately understand how race and its counterpart, racism, are woven into the very fabric of American society, we must explore the history of how race, white privilege, and anti-blackness came to be. American society developed the notion of race early in its formation to justify its new economic system of capitalism, which depended on the institution of forced labor, especially the enslavement of African peoples. Race, while not a valid biological concept, is a real social construction that gives or denies benefits and privileges. Race is a human-invented, shorthand term used to describe and categorize people into various social groups based on characteristics like skin color, physical features, and genetic heredity. Our ideas about how to raise children are beliefs decided and shared by the social community. However, nature did not specify how older people should treat young people during this stage of life. Nature determined that all human beings would be young before maturing. ![]() Still, the idea that the very young, defined by a specific period of time should be given to access to toys, playgrounds, and juice boxes, is a creation of our American society. All human beings begin their lives being young. These constructs serve as an attempt to organize or explain the world around us.įor example: For example, “childhood” is a social construct. A social construct is an idea or collection of ideas that have been created and accepted by the people in a society. ![]()
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