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Alan Goodman Two Questions About Race Analysis

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Segregated proms. This term probably brings to mind the various societal norms of the 1960s such as signs with the words “colored” and “white”. This term might have been seen in history textbooks when talking about Jim Crow Laws or might have been spoken by your grandparents when describing their days in high school. However, this term is not as outdated as you might think. In 2001, Taylor County, Georgia made national headlines when the news broke that this community still practiced hosting segregated proms. As an alumna of Taylor County High School, it was hard to imagine the stir my rural community must have created. The concept puzzled me. I’d asked various members of my community, black and white, how they had been fine with practicing …show more content…

In his article Two Questions About Race, Goodman criticizes the written works on both Armand Leroi and Sean Thomas by giving evidence through biology and society how their views on race are (in the case of Leroi) lazy, and (in the case of Thomas) mistaken. Goodman makes the very power assertion that “real human suffering may result from poor conceptualization of human variation. Yet, race is real as a lived experience.” I agree with Goodman’s statement, as it brings to light the fact that though race is not real in terms of science and biology, race is real because humans made it …show more content…

The idea of race is not natural. The idea of one group of people being superior to another is not a new one. Humans have always been able to find themselves superior to other humans whether it is in regards to religion, nationality, or social class. The institution of slavery in the United States of America could be argued as going hand-in-hand with race. However, when slavery came to the Americas, the idea of race had yet to be formed (Race the Power of an Illusion episode 2). In fact, religion and wealth were major factors in determining a person’s place in society by the time the first Africans came to Virginia in 1619. The color of a person’s skin was irrelevant. (Race the Power of an Illusion episode 2). Poor, white, indentured servants were the main means of labor in the colonies at that time. Gradually, the idea of using race as a means of status began to spread, as fewer poor Europeans were willing to travel to the Americas. Black became associated with slavery, and slaves found themselves on the lowest level of society. In truth, it was very easy to use skin color to determine status. At one glance, you were able to determine a person’s status. Moral? No. But easy. Race became a very easy, very effective hand to play if you were white. It automatically bolstered status in society regardless of religion or social

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