White Supremacy in the South and Latin America
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996
From: Elna Green
Subject: Query: "white supremacy" in the South and Latin America
I am posting this for a colleague in Latin American history. Does anyone know of work which compares "white supremacy" in the U.S. South and Latin America? [something along the lines of John Cell's work on the U.S. South and South Africa]
You may respond privately if you wish.
Thanks for the help,
Elna Green
Sweet Briar College
GREEN@alison.sbc.edu
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996
From: Bill Cecil-Fronsman
Subject: Re: Query: "white supremacy" in the South and Latin America
An obvious choice is Carl Degler's study of race and slavery in Brazil and the United States, _Neither Black Nor White_ Bill Cecil-Fronsman zzceci@acc.wuacc.edu Department of History Office: (913) 231-1010 x1317 Washburn University Fax: (913) 231-1084 Topeka, KS 66621
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This may be of only limited use, but Richard Graham (ed.), _The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940_ (Austin, 1990) might be a useful start.
Patrick Rael
Bowdoin College
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Try Carl Degler, Black over White (Brazil and US) and Herbert Klein, Slavery in the Americas (Cuba and Virginia) for starters.
Anthony Carey
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In response to Elna Green's query on white supremacy in Latin America: I can't offer an answer for all nations of LA, but there is a very rich literature on race in Brazil, much of it comparative. To begin with one might want to look at Carl Degler's _Neither Black Nor White_. This book is always under attack for what are perceived to be a myriad of flaws, but it remains a classic--whatever that means--that does a good job of exploring the multi-racial nature of Brazilian society. Tom Skidmore's _Black Into White_ is an excellent intellectual history of the white ideal in Brazil. Joao Rais has done some wonderful work on Muslim slave rebellions.
As for books outside of Brazil, I can only suggest a couple of authors. George Reid Andrews wrote a brilliant book on the Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires; and H. Hoetink wrote a comparitive study of race relations in several LA nations.
I hope this helps, and if you would like to contact me directly, I would be happy to put you or your colleague in touch several people who are working on topics dealing with race in Latin America. They would surely be far more helpful than I have been.
Ari Kelman
Ph.D. Candidate
Brown University / Department of History
sherman@mailhost.tulane.tcs.edu
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 1996
From: harper@nauvax.ucc.nau.edu
Subject: comparative race relations
I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but I have a few sources for comparisons between Brazil and the US. They are:
1. George Reid Andrews, "Racial Inequality in Brazil and the United States: A Statistical Comparison." JOURNAL OF SOCIAL HISTORY 26 (Winter 1992), 229-263. 2. David J. Hallwig, "Racial Paradise or Run-Around? Afro-North American Views of Race Relations in Brazil." AMERICAN STUDIES 31, no. 2 (Fall 1990), 43- 3. Ibrahim K. Sundiata, "Late Twentieth Century Patterns of Race Relations in Brazil and the United States." PHYLON 48 (March 1987), 62-76. 4. Robert Brent Toplin, FREEDOM AND PREJUDICE: THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES AND BRAZIL. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981
Andy Harper
harper@nauvax.ucc.nau.edu
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Dear H-South members:
Regarding Elna Green's very interesting question regarding good comparative works comparing white supremacy in the South and Latin America, I think the intelligent answer is no. Certainly not in a systematic way, the subject itself is simply something that has slipped through the cracks. I would say that Carl Degler's Neither Black Nor White (1969) is a very useful effort. In which Degler compares the nature of slavery as it worked in Brazil and the American South. A series of interesting essays were compiled by Robert Brent Toplin in Freedom and Prejudice: The Legacy of Slavery in the United States and Brazil. (1981) Perhaps the best work of all, is a collection of essays edited by Richard Graham entitled The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940, (1990) Lastly, a very useful work which discusses racial ideologies is a study of Thomas Skidmore's on Brazil. Black Into White, Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought. (1974) Skidmore's work while only on Brazil, is simply brilliant, and has much to say about the way that all whites thought about race.
But none of these works really address the question of white supremacy, and certainly none of them has Cell's skill at comparative history. As a lowly graduate student, I have been greatly dissapointed to see how few people have read what Cell has to say about segregation. I should say as well that while many Latin Americanists have been a little backward in studying these comparative connections, it is minor compared to the incredible lack of interest among Southern Historians. As someone who is very proud to be studying Southern History, I find that very embarassing. If your colleague has any specific questions regarding race, please have them contact me by e-mail, and I'd be happy to respond.
Best Wishes,
Lewie Reece
Department of History
Bowling Green State University
lreece@bgnet.bgsu.edu
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 1996
From: Randy Shifflett
Subject: Teaching: Comparative Race Relations
In 1989 I organized a course for undergraduates entitled "Comparative Race Relations: South Africa, South America, the West Indies, Russia, and the American South." It was an enjoyable course; both the students and I learned a lot about slavery and race in a global context.
I used: Peter Kolchin, UNFREE LABOR; George Fredrickson, WHITE SUPREMACY; Winthrop Jordon, THE WHITE MAN'S BURDEN; Carl Degler, NEITHER BLACK NOR WHITE; Eric Foner, NOTHING BUT FREEDOM; C. Vann Woodward, THE STRANGE CAREER OF JIM CROW; Joel Williamson, A RAGE FOR ORDER.
Williamson and Woodward are not comparative studies, of course, but they were valuable for discussing American race relations since emancipation. Although undergraduates liked the course, it was more advanced than some were able to handle. I have moved the course to the graduate level and changed the reading list.
Additions include: Philip D. Curtin, THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE; David Brion Davis, THE PROBLEM OF SLAVERY IN WESTERN CULTURE; Stanley Elkins, SLAVERY: A PROBLEM IN AMERICAN INSTITUTIONAL AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE; Fredrickson, BLACK LIBERATION; Herbert Klein, AFRICAN SLAVERY IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN; Michael Mullin, AFRICA IN AMERICA; and Richard Price, ALABI'S WORLD, a terrific study of slavery in Surinam that experiments with an interesting approach to historical writing.
I would also add some theoretical perspectives, such as Orlando Patterson, SLAVERY AS A SOCIAL DEATH; Frank Tannenbaum, SLAVE AND CITIZEN; or Eric Williams, CAPITALISM AND SLAVERY. In addition, Richard Dunn has an excellent essay in comparative history, "A Tale of Two Plantations: Slave Life at Mesopotamia in Jamaica and Mount Airy in Virginia, 1799 to 1828, W&M Quarterly, January 1977; I also recommend Peter Kolchin, "Reevaluating the Antebellum Slave Community: A Comparative Perspective," THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY, December 1983. Other studies might be mentioned, but enough for now.
I would love the chance to teach this course because I believe comparative history is an excellent but underutilized approach to history; unfortunately my other teaching commitments keep me from doing more in this area. By the way, I am a southern historian; not all of us are disinterested in comparative history.
Crandall (Randy) Shifflett
Dept of History
Virginia Tech
Shifflet@vtvm1
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1996
From: Terence Finnegan
Subject: Re: Teaching: Comparative Race Relations--3 replies
Have you thought to include "Time on the Cross" by Fogel and Engerman? Just wondering.....
Hobbes
Southerner and Historian
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One of my students who reads H-South forwarded your message to me. Let me recommend a book which I have found useful in teaching a comparative course on the Atlantic slave trade.
Paul Gilroy, *The Black Atlantic*
It is very theoretical and post-modernist, so I get some flak from students about it, but it does lay out perspectives which they need very much.
Mel Page
East Tennessee State Univ.
co-editor, H-AFRICA
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Two other useful articles which help provide a methodological grounding for comparative race relations:
Theda Skocpol and Margaret Somers, "The Uses of Comparative History in Macrosocial Inquiry," _Comparative Studies in Society and History_ 22:2 (1980).
George Fredrickson, "From Exceptionalism to Variability: Recent Developments in Cross-National Comparative History," _Journal of American History_ 82:2 (Sept 1995).
See also Fredrickson's new book, _Black Liberation_, which extends his comparison of the US and South Africa.
Rick Halpern
Dept of History
University College London
ucrahex@ucl.ac.uk
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 1996
From: Paul Gaston
Subject: Re: Teaching: Comparative Race Relations
Many good suggestions have come across the screen for the study of comparative race relations. If I were to teach a course on the subject again I'd choose two very long books and spend a lot of time on them: Theodore Rosengarten, ALL GOD'S DANGERS, and Charles van Onselen, THE SEED IS MINE: THE LIFE OF KAS MAINE, A SOUTH AFRICAN SHARECROPPER, 1894-1985. The latter is written with the former very much in mind. Both are extraordinary books. Read side by side, they will give students a wonderful opportunity for comparison.
Paul M. Gaston
Professor of History
University of Virginia
Home: 810 Rugby Rd.
Charlottesville, VA 22903
ph: (804) 296-9089
pmg@faraday.clas.virginia.edu
Beyond 'White Supremacy'?
A Conference on the Comparative History of South Africa and the
United States
University of London Thursday 16 and Friday 17 May 1996
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Thursday 16 May
Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Russell Square, London WC1B 5DS
4.30pm - Registration
5.00pm - Keynote Lecture
Speaker: Prof. George Fredrickson (Stanford)
Chair: Dr. Rick Halpern (UCL)
Commentators: Prof. Shula Marks (SOAS), Dr. Robert Cook (Sheffield)
Friday 17 May
Haldane Room, University College, Gower Street, London WC1 6BT
9.15am - Farming and Farmers
Speakers: Prof. Colin Bundy (Western Cape), Ian Ochiltree (Oxford)
Commentator: Alexander Byrd (Duke)
11.15am - Mining and Mine Workers
Speakers: Dr. Roger Fagge (Warwick), Mathew Dean (Essex)
Commentator: Dr. Peter Alexander (Oxford)
1.45pm - Religion
Speakers: Prof. James Campbell (Northwestern), Prof. Robert Gregg (Pennsylvania)
Commentator: Dr. Deborah Gaitskell (SOAS)
3.45pm - Economic Development and the Environment
Speakers: Dr. William Beinart (Bristol), Dr. Peter Coates (Bristol)
Commentator: Thackwray Driver (SOAS)
5.30pm - Round-table Discussion and Summary
Chair: Dr. Hilary Sapire (Birkbeck)
Comment: Prof. James Oakes (Northwestern)
For further details contact: Seminar Secretary, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London WC1B 5DS. Telephone: 0171-580 5876. Fax: 0171- 255 2160.
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