Transcription
Question: Have you ever wondered to yourself why there are millions of people who have brown skin that walk around the earth calling themselves black, or how there are millions of people who call themselves white and clearly do not have white skin? These are very important questions to ask ourselves because many people go their entire lives without even asking that question at all, and they accept these identities as inherent truths and just the way that the world works.
And the truth is that, to many people's surprise, the answers to these questions are known. And it doesn't take much digging to find out the answers to the questions. But the first thing that someone has to do is actually ask the question and have the desire to want to know. So when we read, uh, experts on the field of race, sociology, cultures, we find out that there is a consensus on how these terms came about, why they came about, the events that led to them coming about. And so what we're going to do is go over some of that information to get some answers to why is it, more specifically in this video, white people were created to be called white people, and what was the purpose of creating white people, right?
And so to get some of the answers to that, that question, we're going to go into this book here. It's called "The Birth of a White Nation" by Dr. Jacqueline to Laura. And she's an attorney and also a professor of sociology. And we're going to go in here starting on page 29, and we're going to go into an event that occurred called Bacon's Rebellion. And this will give us the answer to how white people were invented, who invented them, and what was the purpose of inventing them. Let's follow along.
Bacon's Rebellion occurred at a time when the survival rate had significantly improved, and the number of servants who completed their terms, not to mention survived, was growing. So in this beginning sentence, who she's talking about are the European servants, those that came from Europe. And when you read on page 17 in this book, she talks about how there were 69,000 that came over from Europe between 1607 and 1682 who were indentured servants. And during this time, early in the establishment of the Virginia colony, there was a lot of deaths taking place, a lot of deaths due to starvation and also disease. And now it's reaching a point in time at this particular part that she's referring to where the survival rate is starting to increase, and the, the, the servants are now starting to reap their benefit of finishing their term of being indentured servants, which is now to become a free person. So those are starting to increase. The free people are starting to increase, right?
Now, in this setting that she's referring to, going into Bacon's Rebellion, while survival and completion of terms of indenture were positive outcomes for laborers, they posed problems for those who governed. We got to understand that a good thing for some people, and in this case, indentured servants becoming free, could be a bad thing for other people. And in this case, those that governed or ruled over them, the rulers. So we're going to keep our eye out of on these rulers that she's referring to.
These changes meant more competition for large landholders, as freed laborers saw their own fortunes in tobacco, adding to the supply and depressing the price. These free men, most of whom were bachelors, presented a growing threat to English authorities in Virginia. These newly freed European people are now posing a threat to the already established large landowning elite ruling class European people. They responded to this threat by extending years of servitude and increasing the term of service required as a penalty for, for such violations as running away, giving birth to a child, or killing a hog. It says they responded. Who are the "they"? The "they" are the European elite. The European elite responded to the threat posed by the newly freed Europeans by using a tool called the law. And in using this tool called the law, they were able to create unfair advantages for themselves and disadvantages for the newly freed Europeans.
In 1670, a law was enacted that stripped these men of their ability to vote, so that only landowners and keepers of homes could vote in elections. So the first thing we have to understand is, what is the purpose of societal laws? Societal laws are set up when establishing cultures, and they're set up to guide and to govern the behavior of other humans, to create boundaries around what humans should and should not do, what's allowed and what's not allowed, a perimeter, right? And you stay within the perimeter, you are within the law. When you go outside of that perimeter, you're breaking the law. And so in 1670, this law was set up by the ruling class elite Europeans to block off or prevent the newly freed Europeans from voting. And so in this instance, the ruling class elite created a law that prevented people who did not own homes or did not own land from voting.
And what's the purpose of doing this? Well, those elite Europeans already knew that most of these freed Europeans don't have access to land. And since you don't have access to land, the wealthy have access to the land and homes. When we stop you from voting, we stop your voice from being heard. And when you stop the voice from being heard of the people who do not have the land, then the people in power could vote on issues that serve their own interest. And one of the interests that these rulers, elite, had who own land and homes was to prevent all these newly freed Europeans from competing with them in the tobacco industry and reducing the prices and cutting out the profit, right? So they're using the tool of law to establish this.
As the number of free tenants and servants grew in the 1640s and 1650s, fewer and fewer could expect to find workable land that was not already claimed or did not have its soil depleted of nutrients. So many of these newly freed Europeans are going out now looking for land, and what they find is that it's hard to find land. And when you go into a book called "Foul Means" by Anthony Parent Jr., what you'll find is that he talks about it in there how the ruling elite, they're establishing themselves in these political, um, uh, uh, positions, and what they're doing is they're working the system, setting themselves up to go out and grab land and allocate it for themselves. So people will be in these positions of power, and they'll go and take 2,000 acres of land, 4,000 acres of land, 5,000 acres of land, 20, 30,000 acres of land for themselves, right? And even if they're not even using the land, they're getting it and grabbing it for themselves. It's called a land grab. So they've taken up all this land, a lot of land at this time, and going all the way up into, uh, the 1700s, they are snatching land like it's crazy. These people are finding it hard, the newly, the newly freed Europeans are finding it hard now to find some land because the good land has been taken already.
The result was a continuous demand for new Native American land. Indentured servants faced harsher conditions, while freed ones faced narrowing opportunities for financial independence. Now, pay attention to how it's brewing up now. So they can't find a lot of land, and it's narrowing their financial hopes that they had, is narrowing, and they're not finding much opportunity to become financially independent, which is what this colony, there, they're seeing other people are doing, right? The elites are financially independent, and these other freed Europeans are having these hopes of becoming that one day.
Falling tobacco prices combined with taxation from the Crown and the relative exclusion of most colonists from participating in the fur trade all worked to increase the resentment of the indentured and freed. The ruling elite entered agreements with various Native American tribes in order to feed the colonists who only wanted to grow tobacco. The result is that European colonists were dependent on Native American women's labor in cornfields and on Native American men's hunting to supply meat, while the English did not hesitate to use violence and addiction to force trade with Native Americans. Tribes that lived away from the coastline quickly had reason to trade. They needed rifles in order to hold back the fast encroaching Europeans. So the European elite needed food to supply the rest of the colony, the Virginia colony that's still trying to find its way afloat. And also the Native Americans needed guns to keep off other Europeans from encroaching on the land and stealing their land, right? So that the trade was almost a necessity there.
Other conditions had changed as well. Since Virginia's economy was deeply invested in tobacco, which required tremendous human effort, the desire for laborers failed to decline. By mid-century, the transportation of the incarcerated, poor, and homeless who were sent from England slowed significantly, leaving a gap in the labor supply. Large landholders in Virginia had to look elsewhere, and in the decades that followed, the numbers of kidnapped and enslaved people from Africa began to increase significantly. So we have tobacco that still needs to be grown, and it requires a lot of labor for that tobacco to be grown. The European supply of labor is now declining. That's where the supply was coming from, the indentured servants, they're coming over to work the land, but now that supply is dwindling. Now the ruling class elite Europeans are focusing their eyes on African labor.
By the early 1670s, the numbers of discontented Virginians were many. Laborers of African and European descent faced harsher treatment, while freed men and women confronted conditions that rendered their freedom more and more tenuous. In the early 1670s, there were many unhappy European and African laborers at this time. Both of them are being treated harshly at this time by the ruling class, being underfed and going without pay. A lot of people are still dying at this time. And those that became free, they're seeing that this hope of becoming financially independent is dwindling down, and it may not be realized. It may not become an actual thing in their life, and they're realizing this. So to be free is not really having much significance. That's why it says it became more and more tenuous.
In 1676, these discontented people erupted in the colony of Virginia in an event known as Bacon's Rebellion. In 1676, these discontented or unhappy people went wild and erupted in an event known as Bacon's Rebellion. We're going to get a little bit more about this Bacon's Rebellion coming up.
Laborers of European and African descent, bond and free, united in the fight against unpaid labor, the plantation elite, and those governing the colony, in an effort to realize greater opportunity and independence. They both came together, and they have their eyes set on the European ruling elite, who's not trying to pay them and is trying to keep them oppressed, right? Because they don't want them coming up because it's creating competition. But you have to understand that anytime there's people that are oppressing people, the seed is planted for resistance and rebellion. And this is what we're seeing now. The seed is sprouting and it's starting to grow into this Bacon's Rebellion, where you have these Europeans and these, um, African slaves uniting together. And this is very important to keep in mind because this is going to set the tone of how we're creating these people called white people. Understand, Bacon's Rebellion was complicated and nuanced. The first phase focused on attacking Native Americans. The second was a direct challenge to the English who ruled the colony.
So there's two issues that are coming together to create this rebellion. One, you're going to find out with Nathaniel Bacon, he has an issue with the Native Americans. He thinks all of these Native Americans are supposed to be killed off. That's causing a problem, and they won't let him do it. And we're going to read about it more. The other issue is the Englishmen oppressing people, and the way that they're getting their wealth, uh, by oppressing and also stealing land and allocating it towards themselves. They're doing some funny business and using their positions of power to benefit themselves, and there's other people that are being left out, as especially the freed Europeans.
The rebels expressed disdain for Native Americans who resisted European advancements and disdain for the way the elite Englishmen ruled and grew their wealth. The rebellion is named after its leader, Nathaniel Bacon. He and a number of neighbors blamed Native Americans for the deaths of numerous servants. These neighbors were unimpressed by how the government responded to the incidents and were increasingly perturbed by the cost of the government that they supported through tax. Bacon himself was a member of the governing council and tried without success to get a commission from Governor Berkeley to attack Native Americans. Bacon then proceeded without it, and on May 10, 1676, the governor denounced Bacon and removed him from the council. Bacon proceeded to lead a crusade against Native Americans, both friendly and hostile. Now, Bacon is rebelling. He doesn't care if you didn't commission it. He's going to go out and do what he thinks is right in his own mind. He wants to go out and kill. He wants to wage war. So in him doing that, Governor Berkeley is now saying that he's a rebel. You're going against what we have set up here, decreed a rebel by Governor Berkeley.
Bacon issued a declaration of the people that sought to ruin all Native Americans, including all trade with them. In addition, he began advocating for a redistribution of some of the ill-gotten wealth in the colony. So he's got two plots on his mind. One, he's going after the Native Americans. The second one, he has a plan to redistribute the ill-gotten wealth throughout the colony. So that means he's trying to take wealth from the ruling elite, right? And this is going to be enticing to other people, and this is how the lower class citizens are going to get involved in this rebellion as well. And also, Nathaniel Bacon is also going to promote freedom to those that are enslaved as well. If you come along in this rebellion, you can gain your freedom. Very enticing to a lot of people who are tired of being oppressed and tired of working without being paid.
According to Edmund Morgan, in a society where success had always depended on exploitation that fell short of plunder, it was an appealing formula to men of every class. Within an environment of tremendous discontent among poorly treated laborers from Africa and Europe, and more constraints with fewer opportunities for the growing numbers of free servants, it was not hard to rally supporters for Bacon's calls. When Bacon brought out the word that he's going to be freeing people and he's also going to be redistributing the wealth, it was not hard to rally the people. Who are the people at this time? The European servants and also the black slaves. It's not hard to get them together for this vision that Bacon is selling them right now.
While he continued to attack Native Americans, other rebel groups plundered the estates of government loyalists. The rebellion waged on for more than a year. In late October, Bacon died. Soon thereafter, armed ships from England arrived, and the rebellious tide died out, but not without having made an impact. Bacon's Rebellion represents the unification of laborers of African and European descent, freed servants, and small landowners. It reveals a belief that the land of North America was theirs. So Bacon's Rebellion represented an event where people came together, no matter what the skin color was, to have their eyes set out on this ruling class, right? And the ruling class elite, they saw this, and it had far-reaching consequences, which is what we're going to read coming up next.
The threat of a united labor force to the capitalist plantation system was also clear, and the response by the governing elite was a divide and conquer strategy. So in response, the ruling elite came up with a divide and conquer strategy to prevent this uprising from occurring again. What's the uprising? People from these lower class statuses, these labor forces, from uniting together and setting their eyes out on the ruling class and coming again and going after these people and burning down buildings and tearing things up. You're jeopardizing the system that they have set up. So now the ruling class elite, which are far smaller than the laborers, they also have an extreme advantage. One of the extreme advantages that they have is that they, they're able to sit back and think all day, strategize, and create ideas. The laboring class, even though they're larger in numbers, they're at a disadvantage because they spend most of their time doing physical things, tending the land, um, planting crops, picking tobacco. You have, they're doing those type of things. So the small, that's this is how small groups of people are able to take advantage of large groups of people by using the leverage of thinking, right? And so we're seeing what's going to happen right now when you have a small group of people who are proficient and efficient and very effective at thinking and strategizing, when they get together, these are the things that come out of their minds.
They separated laborers by creating one group with the authority to rule over and oppress the other. The ruling elite, with all the time on their hands to create ideas, to strategize, and to think, they were able to create one group to rule and oppress the other. Now, let's continue reading to find out which group of people that these elite people with all this time on their hands to think and create ideas, who they created to rule over the other. The group with that authority was called white people, and the creation of this idea called race and these hierarchies of race. We have to understand that white people were created and invented to be on the top, and black people were created and meant to be on the bottom. This is what we're seeing taking place right here, right before our eyes.
Bacon's Rebellion is the event leading to this idea of race and the invention of white people. And what we have to understand right now is that black people were already invented at this time. They were invented in the 1400s by the Portuguese when the Portuguese came over there and caught and started calling them black people. They had tribal names, but they started calling them black people and inventing them as black people. And these things have loaded meanings behind these terms, right? So you have black people already at this time during this Bacon's Rebellion, and now you have these elite ruling class people with all the time on their hands to think, and they understand the nature of reality. They came up with a phenomenal idea, a simple, brilliant idea, and it's so brilliant, it really is brilliant, to take that group and that class of people and start to call them white people. By doing that, it automatically creates a separation and a divide. Black and white are two ends of the spectrum, right? We understand that neither one of these people have no one, no one has black skin and no one has white skin. That's not what it is. It's attaching a meaning and a label to both sets of people to where you start to identify those people as those brands. So they started to separate the Europeans in the 1600s as being white people. Black people had already been invented in the 1400s.
Here's the beginning of the divide. According to Theodore W. Allen, the response to the rebellion was the creation of a new social status that would be a birthright of Europeans in North America, a white identity designed to set them apart from people of African descent. Those to be ruled by white people were of African descent. The white identity was created to rule over those that identify with the black identity. And you have to understand that after Bacon's Rebellion, the ruling elite are going to start implementing laws to reinforce this. And what they're going to do is start giving the Europeans, these lower class Europeans, certain privileges and opportunities that they didn't have before. And they're going to start stripping away privileges and opportunities from the blacks, and it's going to create a divide, right? It's going to create this divide there.
And over time, what happens is these two people, they, they begin to see themselves as distinctly and separate people. And you got to understand that this, this middle class here, so you have the blacks here on the bottom, and you're going to have this middle layer of whites. What they didn't understand is that they're still this other layer here at the top of these elites. And they created and separated out this middle class here with these whites to be middlemen and to keep down the blacks, while they still rule over these top of these whites. That's what they didn't understand. They only got a perceived benefit, right? It was a perceived benefit, right? It created a bottom, like a bottomless pit, where it put black people down here. But the white people, they got very little out of it. They think that they got much out of it because it, they see the difference between where they're at and where the black people are at, and there's a large gulf fixed between them, right? Between people in the middle layer of the whites and in the pit where the black people's got put at, right? And so they developed under different environments at this point. But there's still an elite class that's ruling that doesn't care about white or black because they're the ones who invented it. They don't care about any of that. They use the tools, whatever they can use. And ruling people have been doing this for thousands of years. They don't care what it is that they need to use, whatever it is that they can use, they'll use it. Whether they make, they can make up a God, whether they make up a religion, whether they make up race, it doesn't matter. What to politics, it doesn't matter how they can do it. Whatever gets the job done, that's what they'll use, right? And in this instance, they come up with the identity of white.
So when we're dealing with this concept of race and the white identity and the black identity, it's important to see the root cause of it. What is, what came into, um, or caused it to come into existence? And we have the, the documentation. We have this book. There's plenty of other books, right? It's not a hidden secret. It's only hidden to those that don't look. But we have the information. So when we go in and look, it allows us to get to the root of the problem and see where we really want to go from, from that understanding, right? So hopefully we've got some, um, some good information out of this. This is just an overview of, of the topic. There's more in-depth, um, information that goes into the Bacon Rebellion and into the creation of, um, race and the, and the white identity and the black identity. And we'll touch on those on, on other videos and, um, talk about how the laws that were put in place that reinforced this idea, right? There's all types of stuff that that went into this. So if you enjoy this type of topic, um, and you want to get more understanding of it, we're going to go more into it in other videos. So like I said, thank you for watching the video, and my name is Brooklyn St. Michael, and I will see you on the next one.