The Antebellum Period In American History

The antebellum period in American history consist of the period leading up to the Civil War. During the Antebellum period race matter and did not matter in its own unique ways. Throughout this period race matter when dealing with slavery, gender roles and education. However, when it comes to economic through, race did not play a part. In the reading of Rothman, the passage started off with a vivid description of the different races. Rothman broke it down by Black, not entirely black, rusty black and tolerable black to name a few. As for the white race , he described them as bright mulatto very white for a slave, yellow not mulatto , and two thirds white to name a few. It is evident that blacks and whites were not treated equally during this

The North and South have the same issues but handle it in the different way. However, the North wasn’t strict on the racism based on the ability on the crops or farm but when you look in the down south you will see more of the whites using the slaves for picking up crops and cotton. Once you look at the time period you can analyze the situation of the north and south we can pin point the issues in the place begin and the cause of the living environments the salves was treated the same. The slaves did not have no choice if the skin was different the case in the 1850s the men and women of the Africans had a different shades of black but given the variation in the appearance individuals of mixed races could manifest, phenotypical appearance might have made more logical choice as the guiding principle for determining race. Based on the article on “The Man with The Dirty Beard” is about a poor white family have no education and no wealth but the man asked why the family can have a good education if they were a white family. Therefore, the family was use and treated like a slave based on the wealth so they fought for “Why “? The cult of white superiority absolved the state of responsibility for social mobility. Sharpening the difference of races meant easing those of class, ensuring that public schooling did not always receive widespread

Blacks were uneducated and some whites where in the same predicament. White believed just because of the color of their skin, they were elite and wealthy. Poor whites often denied education in this regard. Blacks were interested in receiving the undercover education whereas as whites didn’t want it. Blacks took pride in learning new information. For example in the article, the man with the dirty white beard; He spoke about how he was a poor white uneducated person. In that time period if you were poor and uneducated you were most likely a slave, forgetting that some whites was in the same predicament. When thinking of the bigger picture does race matter, race matter and also didn’t matter when involving education. Race mattered because uneducated people were thought to be blacks, education was easily given to the black as it was for the poor whites. However race didn’t matter in the same aspect because education was taught, black or white you were not born with elite knowledge. The knowledge was learned, sadly whites thought just because they were white there should be elite and wealthy; which the case