"White Over Black"

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at "White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812" by Winthrop D. Jordan where he discusses the history of relations between whites and blacks leading to the slave era. The paper looks at how Jordan identifies the institution of slavery and the development of its own rules and customs. The paper describes how Winthrop shows how attitudes changed over time and how slavery in particular altered relations between black and white. The paper notes that Jordan provides a list of resources for those who want to examine these issues in more detail.

From the Paper:

"Europeans were seeking empire when they first arrived in West Africa, originally just to trade goods with the natives. English traders wrote accounts of their journeys and described the people they saw, people very different from themselves, with skin color the most obvious difference. Different terms were used to apply to natives from different parts of Africa, meaning natives of differing blackness. The idea of color itself became part of the vocabulary. English travelers eventually came to see blacks as not only different but as savage and so as uncivilized. This fact alone became a lure for travelers who wanted to see the savages up close. In time, the English started to project attitudes they did not want to admit in themselves onto the savages they saw as so different, and blackness became a metaphor for some of the darker aspects of human nature."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Jordan, Winthrop D. White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812. Durham: The University of North Carolina Press, 1968.

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• Book Review # 131873 : "White Over Black" - A Book Review"
• Essay # 7580 : "Outstanding Black Americans"
• Persuasive Essay # 129906 : "Being Black and Christian in America"

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