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Each circle represents a racial script that was seen in the 19th century
When clicking through each script is linked with a timeline of when the scripts is seen again and which group it is against
the point we hope to get across is how the scripts we learned about from 19th century america show up throughout history with different groups through the 20th and 21st century
*side note: not all racial groups will be mentioned for each racial script
In regards to the Chinese, the "San Francisco Call" was very explicit in expressing its views on them. It described Chinese Americans as "an 'unassimilable race' who 'wear a foreign dress, speak a foreign tongue,' and whose native-born children remain as 'distinctively alien as the rawest recruit from the cooly hordes of Canton.'" (Frost)
Many of these racial groups were seen as simply unassimilatible becasue of caultureal differences, skin color, etc...
During Westward Expansion, Washington made it clear that he did not have any expectation that Native tribes would learn to live among white migrants. Rather, he envisioned “the replacement of Indigenous people with white people” (Seeley) as they moved west.
Furthermore, “Federal officials… called them ‘banditti,’ a term that referred to those who were lawless or unattached to a political community.” (Seeley) This nickname exemplifies that Native Americans were believed to be unable to attach themselves to American life and politics.
For the Irish, their unassimilablity was not based on cultural differences, but rather, religious differences. The Know-Nothings party "believed that Protestantism defined American society and that Catholicism was incompatible with American values such as democracy, freedom, and individualism.” (Hirota)
During the Civil War, “Some commentators… insisted that blacks did not desire liberty” (Varon) and claimed that their slaves were too loyal to be pursuaded by the calls to join the military. This suggests that they believed that slaves did not want to be like the common man.
Later, during Reconstruction, Greeley said in his presidential campaign speech that "Social equality will remain forever out of reach... Segregate yourself, employ each other.” (Kendi) This shows that Greeley felt African Americans had been pushed so far out of white society that it was hopeless to even try to assimilate into white society.
Next, the Irish were said to be lower in intellect and in general mental stability. The Know-Nothing party claimed that “‘The Irish laborers have less sensibility… They are more readily disturbed when they find themselves at variance with the circumstances about them’... The idea that being Irish predisposed one to pauperism and insanity.” (Hirota)
We first see this script of intellect against Native Americans during Westward Expansion. “Till this people will consent to give up their lands, and divide among their citizens so that each can own the land he cultivates they will not make much more progress.” (Dunbar-Ortiz)
For many racial groups early on the script used against them was inferior intellect, but that wasn't always the case.
Lastly it is seen still, as found in a newspaper article from 1995 Arkansas, in the late 80s and 90s that gerrymandering on the basis of race happens quite often. This is the case becasue political parties still beleive that black polititions would have different/less inteligent ideas.
the prime example of this is seen with scripts against japanese immigrants
This script was flipped when applied to the Japanese, as the US felt threatened by their high intelligence, both as individuals and as a nation. Lee explains that “Japanese were proving to be very skilled at ‘adapting white ideas and methods’ to their own needs… Japanese were not inferior to whites that made them so dangerous”
(Erika Lee)
It reappears during reconstruction to put down African Americans as they tried to find their place in a changing society. They were said to be “Corrupt, incompetent, lazy Black politicians” (Kendi) and a “lazy, lounging, non-producing set that nobody wants.” (Schoeppner)
becasue of the lack of rights these racial groups were given in the US they would be forced to take part in "crimal behavior"
African Americans in reconstruction era
During both his campaign run and presidency, Donald Trump was adamant that building a wall along the US-Mexican border would cut down on the "high levels of undocumented migration, crime, and drugs" in the US. He regularly categorized "immigrants with criminals, 'drug lords,' and 'bad hombres'" that needed to be removed and kept out of the country.
The book prisoners without trial by Roger Daniels says that “After Pearl Harbor, many but not all, military commands began discharging Japanese Americans..., usually classifying them 4-F – Physically or mentally unfit for service.”
"Criminals were born, not bred… He believed that born criminals emitted physical signs that could be studied, measured, and qualified, and that the ‘inability to blush’ – and therefore, dark skin – had ‘always been considered the accompaniment of crime." (Kendi)
In a simple Google search Incarceration rate for black americans in 2010 was 3074 per 100000 residents where white americans was only 459 per 100000 residents
"The Irishman will always lie, if it is for his monetary interest… He will steal when he can get chance” (Hirota)
These racials groups would work for less money and in harsher conditions becasue it is all they had, so white people were afraid that their labor was being stolen from them.
“Unless the United States restricted immigration, nativists warned, ‘the pauper prices of Europe’ would become the standards for wages in America. An even worse consequence would be the degradation of American workers… as a result of losing job competition with ‘half-starved pauper-laborers from Europe” (Hirota)
A newspaper article from 1984 recalls life magazine cartoons from 1900-1910, one “suggesting jews were taking over the country” calling it “jew-york”. The influx of Jewish immigrants scared the American citizens that their jobs and land would be taken
In Indiana, “one local paper alerted readers to… men who would work for just ‘ten cents a day,’ to illustrate how essential Black-migrant bans were to white economic freedom.” (Schoeppner)
Once again Japanese immigrants aren't seen as inferior, but rather as a threat. Transitioned from hard labor to farming - becoming TOO good at it, threatening to white people
becasue of different ethnisities and skin colors the white people saw these groups as haveing biological differences rooting back in their ancestors
Japanese and Chinese immigrants fought on the basis of racr claiming that they had white skin but the Ozowa case clears up some misconceptions “Since Ozawa was not white or Caucausian, he was ineligible” for naturalization (Erika Lee)
Lee also states “There is immediate danger that the white stocks may be swamped by Asiatic blood”
In the same news article from 1984 reciting 1900s life magazine cartoons one depicted an “ape-like all black football team” in response to Harvard accepting black students
Starting with Native americans, white Americans felt that the race as a whole was just different “The only good Indian is a dead one… all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him and save the man.” (Dunbar-Ortiz)
Johnson-Reed Immigration Act reduced the entry of Jews and other southern and eastern Europeans because they were “inferior breeds”