Marne L. Campbell
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469629278
- eISBN:
- 9781469629292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469629278.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Chapter 1, “Myths and Origins” considers the earliest period of settlement in California (1781 – 1848) and the peculiar role of race during that time. It also examines the ways settlers of ...
More
Chapter 1, “Myths and Origins” considers the earliest period of settlement in California (1781 – 1848) and the peculiar role of race during that time. It also examines the ways settlers of Afro-Latino descent affected the lives of African Americans a century later. Most importantly, this chapter explores California as an important landscape for establishing a racial hierarchy not only under Mexican rule, but also after it became United States territory (1848), by examining the ways in which African American settlers and other racial minorities in this early period contributed to defining race on the city’s frontier.Less
Chapter 1, “Myths and Origins” considers the earliest period of settlement in California (1781 – 1848) and the peculiar role of race during that time. It also examines the ways settlers of Afro-Latino descent affected the lives of African Americans a century later. Most importantly, this chapter explores California as an important landscape for establishing a racial hierarchy not only under Mexican rule, but also after it became United States territory (1848), by examining the ways in which African American settlers and other racial minorities in this early period contributed to defining race on the city’s frontier.
Justin Gomer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781469655802
- eISBN:
- 9781469655826
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469655802.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
The racial ideology of colorblindness has a long history. In 1963, Martin Luther King famously stated, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not ...
More
The racial ideology of colorblindness has a long history. In 1963, Martin Luther King famously stated, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." However, in the decades after the civil rights movement, the ideology of colorblindness co-opted the language of the civil rights era in order to reinvent white supremacy, fuel the rise of neoliberalism, and dismantle the civil rights movement’s legal victories without offending political decorum. Yet, the spread of colorblindness could not merely happen through political speeches, newspapers, or books. The key, Justin Gomer contends, was film--as race-conscious language was expelled from public discourse, Hollywood provided the visual medium necessary to dramatize an anti–civil rights agenda over the course of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.In blockbusters like Dirty Harry, Rocky, and Dangerous Minds, filmmakers capitalized upon the volatile racial, social, and economic struggles in the decades after the civil rights movement, shoring up a powerful, bipartisan ideology that would be wielded against race-conscious policy, the memory of black freedom struggles, and core aspects of the liberal state itself.Less
The racial ideology of colorblindness has a long history. In 1963, Martin Luther King famously stated, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." However, in the decades after the civil rights movement, the ideology of colorblindness co-opted the language of the civil rights era in order to reinvent white supremacy, fuel the rise of neoliberalism, and dismantle the civil rights movement’s legal victories without offending political decorum. Yet, the spread of colorblindness could not merely happen through political speeches, newspapers, or books. The key, Justin Gomer contends, was film--as race-conscious language was expelled from public discourse, Hollywood provided the visual medium necessary to dramatize an anti–civil rights agenda over the course of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.In blockbusters like Dirty Harry, Rocky, and Dangerous Minds, filmmakers capitalized upon the volatile racial, social, and economic struggles in the decades after the civil rights movement, shoring up a powerful, bipartisan ideology that would be wielded against race-conscious policy, the memory of black freedom struggles, and core aspects of the liberal state itself.
Justin Gomer
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781469655802
- eISBN:
- 9781469655826
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469655802.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This section offers an overview of the history of the racial ideology of colorblindness, beginning with it’s first use in the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision. It then explains the ...
More
This section offers an overview of the history of the racial ideology of colorblindness, beginning with it’s first use in the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision. It then explains the difference between colorblind ideology and colorblind rhetoric. Drawing on theories of racial formation, cultural representation, and discursive transcoding, the chapter outlines the theoretical my argument regarding the role of Hollywood in shaping colorblindness. It then provides an overview of the scholarship on colorblindness before outlining the book’s major arguments.Less
This section offers an overview of the history of the racial ideology of colorblindness, beginning with it’s first use in the Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision. It then explains the difference between colorblind ideology and colorblind rhetoric. Drawing on theories of racial formation, cultural representation, and discursive transcoding, the chapter outlines the theoretical my argument regarding the role of Hollywood in shaping colorblindness. It then provides an overview of the scholarship on colorblindness before outlining the book’s major arguments.
