An imperial system is one in which a country extends their power and influence over a certain group of people or places. Many world leaders sought to colonize and imperialize other countries in order to exert their dominance. European countries in particular did this to emphasize their stance as the cultural hegemon, forcing different peoples to assimilate into and accept their way of life. While imperialism is most obvious in the conquering of groups of people, it is interesting to analyze the long-term effects of an already conquered group of people. One of the most fascinating cases being within American society itself: the case of the freed slave and the white woman. The suffragette movement is often looked at with much respect and honor for the hardships women had to experience in order to get rights, but the deeply rooted racism within white feminism is very often ignored. The imperial system that decided fair skin was the ideal and dark skin was wrong ultimately put white women in the position where they could choose between their whiteness and their womanhood—a decision still present to this day. White women used racist tactics in order to try to boost their political stance in an attempt to appeal to the white man, leaving dire consequences both for black women and black men.
In the mid 1800s, women’s rights and the suffragette movement had just begun. Suffragists mark the Seneca Falls Convention as the meeting that catalyzed the push for women’s rights. Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and many others led this movement, circulating petitions and lobbying Congress to enfranchise women. Pre-revolutionary America, ruled by the British, concentrated on marriage and motherhood as staples of British “womanhood.” Married women were the most restricted, especially since it was a show of wealth for a woman to have no responsibilities. This particular group of people relate to an imperial system because, although not as prevalent in their decade, their lifestyle is ultimately the result of an imperialist European system that put the white race above colored races. The United States of America was later built on ideals of white supremacy, a distasteful notion unfortunately woven into the country’s roots and one of which we have yet to get rid of completely. While many understand the immediate implications of imperialism for African American people (slavery), the long-term effects this system had on white women as oppressors specifically are less discussed. Despite being a marginalized group themselves, white women often found themselves conveniently identifying more with their whiteness than their womanhood, further encouraging the enslavement and disrespect of people of color. This blatant racism was only pushed further as social sciences were being utilized to justify the disrespect and maltreatment of colored people. Social Darwinism was on the side of white women as they desperately scrambled to gain voting rights before black men did, arguing that if “negro men” preceded them, white women would be degraded (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/opinion/sunday/suffrage-movement-racism-black-women.html). Even Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a woman once revered for her activism as a feminist and women’s suffragist, used blatantly racist tactics and rhetoric. In this interpretation of the imperial system, white women are the oppressors while black people are the oppressed.
The 1800s were a busy period for imperial United States, and expansion soon became a means of exerting strength and power. Nationalism was on the rise as Manifest Destiny became more ingrained into American society’s view of the world they occupy (reading _________). However, not all Americans had the privilege of reaping the benefits of this imperial system. African American people in particular have a somber history in their American roots. The immediate effects of imperial Europe are evident in the forced bringing of African people to the states and into slavery. Meanwhile the effects of the imperial United States lie in the systematic oppression of people who weren’t white. Through trade systems and legislation, the white man and woman alike made it impossible for African American people to find their way out of slavery and discrimination. For hundreds of years, black people in America were mere property and means of making capital. Even after the abolition of slavery in 1865, the black community was seen as “less than” and treated as such. Jim Crow laws, segregation, and the civil rights movement highlight this phenomenon. Social sciences such as Social Darwinism were used to push the black community further down the food chain— claiming that black people were inherently weaker and less intelligent than white people (https://www.npr.org/2011/03/25/134849480/the-root-how-racism-tainted-womens-suffrage). Because of this, the quality of life of a black person living in America in the 1800s was not favorable whatsoever. Poverty struck with little means of gaining an education, the black community was forced into dismay by the white community.
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