Racism: A Short History

Georg M. Fredrickson is, among other things, a scholar at the Research Institute for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity as well as author of several books about the history of race and race ideology. In other words, it's safe to assume that he knows what he's talking about, and with Racism he's put together a short, yet informative and thorough, study of the history of Western racism; from its origins at the end of the Middle Ages up until the present. However, it's not only Western racism from the late Middle Ages and onwards that Fredrickson deals with. Several different types of racism from different eras and aimed towards different groups of people are brought to light. And that's a good thing (this way of displaying different beliefs from different eras, I mean), because racism is a phenomenon that's a whole lot stranger and definitely more complicated than most people know or assume. It's not just a case a some group hating some other group. The fear/hatred/contempt aimed towards certain groups of people come in numerous different shapes and forms and are based on more factors than one could even imagine, and religious teachings and doctrines have been directly or indirectly responsible for way too many horrible clashes throughout history, not only in the West. Still, the real focus is on the comparison of two different kinds of racism; white supremacy with its ideas about the white "race" (whatever that is) and its supreme qualities, and anti-Semitism with the continuous hatred of the Jews. These two manifestations of racism are dealt with quite extensively, and the comparison made between the two is tremendously interesting, original, and more than anything well presented. And also of importance in today's world. After all, the Jews probably have the not-so pleasant title of being the most persecuted people in the history of the world, and the American slave trade with its extremely cynical and brutal view of humans with African descent is still a burning issue. This latter example could sometimes be of such a bizarre nature that it almost bordered on the comical: "Some racial environmentalists in the early American republic fully expected imported Africans to turn white in the more temperate climate to which they were now exposed, but the process seemed to be taking a very long time." (pg.58). But only almost. Because obviously there's nothing funny about such a stupid worldview. It's a nuisance, that's what it is. And Fredrickson is the man to expose it. Regarding the never-ending conflict between "white" and "black" people (I've never felt very comfortable talking about people as colors), he compares and reveals disturbing parallels between Nazi Germany and America, and these breath-taking sections are sure to make a great deal of Americans quite upset. How about this sentence: "When the Supreme Court declared in the Dred Scott decision of 1857 that free blacks could not be citizens of the United States, because the frame

Beware of the negative reviewer who thinks that one should write about racism and anti-semitism in a 'clinically disinterested manner." Fredrickson is one of the best historians of race and racism. Don't let silly people divert you from reading this text.

The guts of the book is a parallel analysis of two of the most virulent forms of racism: Nazi anti-semitism and US white supremacy. In such a short book, this specialization reduces the scope for the kind of synthetic overview for which I'd hoped. However there are two particular insights which made it worthwhile. The first is attempt to get to grips with the word 'racism' itself which, as Fredrickson points out, is an increasingly debased epithet, used by each side against another in debates on ethnicity, nationality and religion. His definition requires not just perceived differences from another group, but also the power to exploit them. The second is an understanding of what the author calls the double-edged sword of enlightenment thought on race. As I scientist, I've sometimes been exasperated by post-modern disdain for the enlightenment as the supposed progenitor of Nazism. But the book convinced me that there is a case for this, at least as one side of a contrapuntal understanding: "Egalitarian norms required special reasons for exclusion." On this reading, a kind of polarizing dialectic takes hold: higher ideals require stronger justifications for retaining privilege. Enlightenment ideals imply democracy, but racist pseudoscience appeals to the same source in order to restrict it. The catharsis of World War II supposedly halted this process. There's a whiff of Whig history here, but it's dispelled by the trenchant close: "Grasping for one's identity in a world that threatens to reduce everyone who is not part of the elite to a low-paid worker or a consumer of cheap, mass-produced commodities creates a hunger for meaning and a sense of self-worth that can most easily be satisfied by consciousness of race or religion."

George Fredrickson is a Stanford history professor who has studied racism (particularly of the white supremacist variety) for many years. In this "Short History," he attempts a synthesis and comparison of much of what he has learned from his own work and that of others. An initial problem in tracing the history of "racism" is in deciding what exactly counts as "racism" -- for example, is the ancient prejudice against foreigners (barbarians) a kind of racism or simply xenophobia or ethnocentrism? Fredrickson excludes ancient examples on the ground that members of disfavored groups could (more or less) overcome these prejudices by adopting (assimilating) the dominant culture. One's status as Other was neither immutable nor (necessarily) heritable. An essential element of racism, in Fredrickson's view, is the belief that certain differences are tied to race, that those differences cannot be overcome by human action, *and* (most critically) that those differences have implications for how society ought to be structured (ranging from informal prejudice and discrimination against the disfavored group through legal segregation to exclusion/extermination).Definition in hand, Fredrickson provides a fascinating overview of how religious prejudice (against Jews and heathens) gradually transformed (through different paths) into racial prejudice, and how racial prejudice became official policy in the American South of the Jim Crow era, Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa. (European attitudes toward Native Americans are briefly explored, but then dropped without much development, and the eventual subjugation of Native Americans by the federal government is ignored completely, for reasons which are not apparent to me.) While pointing out significant differences between these three instances of racism, Fredrickson also draws some interesting parallels and contrasts. The role of international events and economic developments in first creating and then destroying these overtly racist regimes is explored in enough detail to make me want to read more.Fredrickson provides the reader with a lot to think about, including the role of racism today, and whether "biological" racism is now being transformed into a kind of "culturism" that makes certain aspects of culture stand in for race. This is a book of "big thoughts" (as one might expect from a short history), and fulfills an important role in setting out a grand theory that others can respond to. The writing is clear, concise and readily intelligible to non-scholars. Fredrickson does not purport to provide any cures or even suggestions for eliminating current strains of this old disease, but like all good historians he identifies the symptoms and the conditions in which the disease flourishes. Highly recommended.

This book is certainly short only some 160 pages(the rest of the 200 is made up of foot notes) but it is written with a clarity that makes it a delight to read. The thesis of the book is that racism is something, which developed due to Western Europe?s relation with the Jews and Africans. In medieval times the failure of the Jews to convert to Christianity became to be seen as reflecting something malicious or evil rather than being a purely intellectual failing. It was something to do with the character or nature of the Jews themselves.However racism took off in a big way in the 19th Century. The Enlightenment had made it possible to see mankind as a type of animal. In that animals had certain characteristics it became fashionable to attribute cultural differences in people to a biological cause. It became fashionable to characterise people who lives in Britain or Germany as members of the British or German race rather than as Britons or Germans. The poverty of other groups such as Africans was seen as a product of their racial breeding rather than being the result of their history and sociology. European universities developed departments that investigated the pseudo science of Eugenics or the study of the biological character of races. Racism became something that was supported by the actions of states. Places such as Australia developed immigration policies to preserve the racial character of their state. In South Africa and America political systems, were developed aimed at subjugating blacks. Germany brought about the end of racism as an accepted part of main stream policy by its crimes. One of the interesting facts raised in the book is that the Holocaust was Germany?s second tray at Genocide. In South West Africa it had been German policy to exterminate two of the main tribes. One tribe consisting of 60,000 people had 44,000 killed and the remaining 16,000 only survived by fleeing. The end of the book suggests that while the Holocaust has sent racism into a decline as a state supported policy racism is not dead. In addition the world faces a new challenge with obnoxious doctrines similar to racism being framed in the language of religious fundamentalism.