Ronald Takaki

Ronald Takaki uses the narrative of the “Giddy Multitude” to demonstrate how the colonial elite used race and the idea of blackness to develop a social system of classification. White identity formation was made possible for white elite through certain types of work and the ability to accumulate assets. Social status also contributed to the economic context of competition over land. The law in Virginia was a legal factor that also contributed to the making of whiteness because it allowed poor whites to have privileges. Along with those privileges the idea of citizenship was created and defined in terms of who would benefit from this nation. In order for someone to be a citizen that person had to be a wealthy white male. Power and white identity was a way in which citizenship was linked to notions of whiteness, class, and gender. The “Giddy Multitude” which is a resentful class of indentured servants, slaves both white and black constantly threatened the social order that constructed slavery (Takaki, 63). Takaki explains how black and white people shared differences due to their social class. In the “Giddy Multitude” narrative by Takaki, it was addressed that the records showed that in repeated instances blacks and whites conspired to escape together (55). When blacks and whites were caught escaping together they were both strongly punished for their actions. Usually black slaves were forced into life of enslavement, while whites typically only had to work a few more extra years for the colony and the slave’s master. Both groups of people united to create what was called the “Giddy Multitude”. Once the English realized that both whites and blacks united as one they had to find a justification to separate both and put them against one another. Virginia was absolutely against the way blacks and whites working together and were not accepting the collaboration. Blacks were punished more severely than the whites if caught trying to escape enslavement. With the separation and creation of race, the English had become more powerful and beneficiated with the occurred. English people wanted to prevent the expansion of blacks and whites unity and decided that socially constructing race would help end the Giddy Multitude and the unity of blacks and whites would come to an end. It took a while but the English were able to pass laws that allowed them to segregate the two assemblies. Laws that were being passed in Virginia benefited the whites that gained power from the segregation. During Reconstruction, they were laws that were created to place restrictions on black freedoms. They created black codes to restrict the liberties of newly freed slaves and basically told them how they were supposed to live their lives, limited their rights and lead to lifelong slavery (Zamora). In order to keep the blacks in the lower class, they passed many laws restricting blacks from doing things such as voting, or having the freedom of assembly or movement (Takaki, 67). The black code was a way in which black people were being kept silence not being able to vote nor make changes in society. The black code allowed whites to dominate the blacks and to keep them as slaves. Takaki gives an example on how black people were being seen negatively due to their skin color. The black code can relate to this because it gives people of color limited opportunities they are prejudged and are not given the chance to prove their intelligence but instead are given limitations due to their skin color. Blacks were not allow to own property which gave white landowners more power. Another way of keeping the blacks and whites segregated from each other was by passing the anti-miscegenation law. The anti-miscegenation law did not allow blacks nor whites marry or engage each other in intimate relationships. It was illegal to marry outside race. White women were actually punished for having sex with blacks (Takaki. 56). Another problem was that many white people both male and female were having children with blacks, those who were received punishment for so called violation of racial purity. White people’s self-presentation and morals were important, that they cared about being judged by other ethnic groups. Mixed offspring would cause culture differences that whites did not want. Slavery was officially produced for the black since they were being treated differently and had no rights nor privileges. The blacks were seen as a threat in America to the white racial purity (Takaki, 68). The black people were being exploited due to the hatred received among the whites. It can be said that thanks to them the wealthy whites were economically stable because the blacks would produce all their goods. Blacks were treated differently and had more limitations which gave the whites more privileges. Colonial elite used laws to invest in identity of whiteness and lifelong benefits such as having power and authority.
The white indentured servants were those who had to work to repay the expense of their passage (Takaki, 54). People who owned land began to realize that they could make a bigger profit from a black slave, than an English indentured servant. White and black people shared a condition of class exploitation and abuse. The newly freed whites were promised a few acres of land, guns, money, food, clothes and crops unlike blacks that were treated differently. Land in Virginia was taken away from the Indians to be given to the white freeman (Takaki, 62). The blacks did not have any of these privileges instead they were kept as slaves and certain rights were denied to them based on their skin color. To the farmers and land owners, slaves were a good way to solve the class problem because they were not indentured servants like the whites. Black people pretty much had to improve their social status on their own once they were freed. Takaki states that after Bacon’s Rebellion planters began to prefer permanent African slavery previously enabled for the white to prosper. There was also white poor people who were slaves but were never treated as blacks. This is what gave the white superiority and power towards white identity. The white identity was given to males who were wealthy and owned land. The power the whites had was more than enough to give them authority. The making of white identity became official when the Naturalization Act of 1790 was passed that defined what a citizen was. Citizenship was only given to whites, due to the Naturalization Act of 1790 that is a racist act restricting persons of color citizenship (Takaki, 9). A citizen was defined as a white male that owned property. Only people with those characteristics were referred to as a citizen. By preventing foreign-born people of color from becoming citizens, the act established that American citizenship contained its own nobility. With a lot at stake the English were not going to want other colored people to claim citizenship which is why it was difficult for many to even escape slavery because blacks had become slaves forever (Takaki, 57). The black codes also contributed to the citizenship because, these codes controlled the blacks and kept them silent. Most of the laws that were being passed prevented the blacks from owning land and gaining power. In other words whites wanted blacks to be seem more as slaves than someone with power and a high social status. By excluding the blacks from the citizenship, slavery, and labor was the white’s main stream of increasing and having a better social status. Citizenship added to the division of skin color and gave the English that extra push to give whites all the authority. Citizenship was created to put restrictions on blacks. Slaves were controlled by state power and were denied rights based on their color of skin (Takaki, 66). Citizenship was related to whiteness because in order to be a citizen the person had to be white and no other color. Citizenship correlated with class since property owners usually were wealthy indicating they were from a higher class than other whites and people of color. Gender and citizenship went hand in hand because only male were considered citizens. Citizenship was linked to notions of whiteness, class, and gender. A person that was not a white male or a land owner was not considered precise. For instance these citizens were the ones with slaves and owned huge pieces of land that the servants cultivated and worked in fields (Takaki, 55).Citizenship also opened a new door for the English because it gave them the power and control they were afraid of losing if race had not been created, segregating both whites and blacks. Blacks were looked down upon while whites were considered valuable in the eyes of the colonies.