Directions for following up on the writing and discussion of the Frederick Douglass photos:

• After discussion, explain that every person in the two photos is an emancipated slave and would have been socially known as black.
  • Ask - So, were these slaves in fact black, or were they white?
  • Ask - What evidence do you have to support your belief?
  • Let's take this a bit further
• Ask - Am I a white woman? What characteristics make me white? My biology/ancestry? My culture? My color?
  • Of all these characteristics, which are indispensable and make me absolutely white?
  • If color is the usual criteria for determining race - how white does one have to be to be considered white?
  • If someone who is white and is raised in black culture and adopts black culture, can he or she become black? Or vice versa?
  • Could a “black-acting” person with white skin and African ancestry be in fact black?
  • If one of my birth parents is black, am I black or white?
• The bottom line is – a person is black because as a society, we decide they are black. Race, then, is not a biological construct - rather it is a social construct based upon color.

So, what is the purpose of this exercise?

• To help students address questions about race so that we can all address our own racism.
• To arm students with a more sophisticated understanding of the complexities of race.
• To help students understand that we all have assumptions about race – even prejudices.
• To help students understand that if race is not a biological fact, than race must be a changing social status. If it has changed in the past, the definition of race can be changed in the future.

But before we can do any of these things, we must help students answer the all-important question – What is racism?

• According to David Wellman, author of Portraits of White Racism, racism is a “system of advantage based on race.”
• Notice that this definition does not include prejudice. Prejudice is learned behavior that perpetuates and reinforces the negative messages about a group of people.
• If we only discuss racism as prejudice – then we don’t address notions of power or privilege. Wellman’s definition is clear that racism operates through a system that includes advantages and disadvantages for some people.

So, what are the advantages of being white in America – the advantages of White Privilege? White people ...

• Are viewed as individuals, not as a member of a racial group.
• Enjoy greater access to jobs and housing.
• Are free from being followed as a suspicious person in a store.
• Can always find appropriate hair care and make up products in any drugstore.
• Can send our children to any school and be certain the teacher will not discriminate against them on account of race.
• Can be late for meetings, talk with our mouth full, and use slang while being fairly confident that our behaviors will not be attributed to the fact that we are white.
• Can express our opinions in public and at meetings without the fear of it being labeled as a “white” viewpoint.

There are several extremely important things that students should have learned from this discussion:

• Race is a social concept, not a scientific reality. People with darker skin may be white and people with very white skin may be black. But the bottom line is that a person is black because, as a society, we decide they are black enough.
• All white people benefit and suffer to some degree or another from racism and all black people suffer to some degree or another from racism.
  • What are the costs of racism for African Americans?
  • What are the costs of racism for White people?
• Racism, then, must be discussed BOTH as a consequence of prejudice AND as a system that reinforces white power and privilege.
• Any discussion of racism must also include the all important questions - What can White people do to interrupt racism?