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A Review of Drawing the Color Line


            "Drawing the Color Line" by Howard Zinn chronicles the beginning of slavery in North America (Gallagher, 2012). The beginning of slavery in North America developed into a regular institution, into the normal labor relation of blacks to whites (Gallagher, 2012). With it developed those special racial feelings - hatred, contempt, pity, or patronization - that accompanied the inferior position of blacks in America for the next three hundred fifty years, that combination of inferior status and derogatory thought we call racism. (Gallagher, 2012). Racial discrimination is not easily distinguished from religious discrimination and vice versa (Yang, 1997). Although the constitutional jurisprudence does not formally combine race and religion, such parallels exist ( Yang, 1997). For instance, government "may not segregate people on account of their race, as it may not segregate on the basis of religion" (Yang, 1997). While both racial and religious conflicts continue to exist in our society, racial divisions have a noticeably greater effect on people's everyday lives than religious divisions (Yang, 1997).
             The first colonists that settled in Jamestown, Virginia in the early 1600's were in dire need of labor to grow food in order to survive in the New World. The survivors of the winter 1609-1610 were so desperate for food they had no other choice but to turn to extreme measures to avoid starvation. There were numerous arguments to justify slavery. It was born out of the necessity due to the simple fact that the settlers needed crops like corn for food and tobacco for exporting. Labor was hard to come by, as white servants had not yet come over. The white settlers already here were skilled craftsmen, or were used to a life of privilege and were not motivated to work the land. Indians lived off the land and consider imported blacks as slaves, even if the institution of slavery would not be regularized and legalized for several decades (Gallagher, 2012).


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