#AP African American Studies: The Social Construction of Race - Night Before Review 🚀

Hey! Let's get you totally prepped for the AP exam. We're going to break down the social construction of race, focusing on how slavery and legal systems shaped it. This review is designed to be quick, clear, and super helpful for your final prep. Let's dive in!

#The Foundation: Slavery and Legal Systems ⚖️

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• Definition: A 17th-century legal principle that determined a child's legal status based on the mother's status, not the father's. Think of it as "mother's status follows the child." 👶

• Impact on Slavery: This law ensured that children born to enslaved mothers were automatically enslaved, regardless of the father's status (free or enslaved, white or Black). This was a major shift from English common law, which usually followed the father's status. 🤯

  • Hereditary Slavery: Partus codified hereditary racial slavery in the U.S., making it a system that could perpetuate itself through generations.

  • Commodification of Reproduction: Enslaved women's reproductive abilities became a valuable asset to enslavers, leading to their dehumanization and exploitation. 😥

  • Mixed-Race Children: Partus prevented mixed-race children of enslaved mothers from inheriting the free status of their white fathers, reinforcing racial hierarchies.

  • Example: If an enslaved woman was raped by her enslaver and had a child, that child was legally considered the enslaver's property, not his responsibility. 💔

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• Mother's status
• Perpetuates slavery
• Victimizes women

#Race as a Social Construct 💡

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• Social Construct: Race is a concept created by society, not a bio...