The Virginia Statutes

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The once cohesive human race has been torn apart by the differing pigmentation of skin. This small biological difference led to the enslavement of an entire body of people and ongoing debates and disagreements. Economic and legal forces as well as social events and ideas have both created and projected the conflict of race on society. Economic events including the London fire of 1666, the fall of the Royal African Company and market forces of supply and demand led to the need for African slaves to fill the labor gaps. The Virginia Statutes were legal documents elevating the status of white servants while tearing down the Africans and making slavery a “hereditary trait.” While economic and legal forces throughout history affected racial and …show more content…
The Virginia Statutes established slavery as a hereditary trait that is passed from mother to child. Act XII of the Virginia Statutes written in the year 1662 states, “Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present grand assembly, that all children borne into this country shalbe held bond or free only according the condition of the mother.” (VA Statutes, 39). This established slavery by making it a hereditary condition, based largely on race and creating generations of slaves. Masters were incentivized to sexually assault the female slaves to make a profit and gain slave …show more content…
He is credited with discovering America, a hero in the eyes of children. Yet as Zinn explains, “To emphasize the heroism of Columbus…, and to deemphasize their genocide, is not a technical necessity but an ideological choice.” (Zinn, 9) The decision made countless times by countless educators to glorify Columbus leads to the misinformed youth seen in society today. Just as the brutal treatment by Columbus is left out, the brutal racism African Americans faced, and still face today, is somehow minimized or left out of the picture completely. It is as if the American people as a whole want to forget slavery, racism, and genocide, and choosing instead to misinform the youth on the supposed success of the “American Dream” and equality. As Kraus, Davidai, and Nussbaum explain in their article “American Dream? Or Mirage,” “…these sets of studies suggest that belief in the American dream is woefully misguided when compared with objective reality.” (Kraus et
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