Songs

A White sea captain recounts his journey across the Atlantic. The ship arrives at Jamestown, the first reported to have sailed there with a cargo of Africans.

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Nathaniel Bacon, a rich landowner seeking to drive out neighboring Indigenous people, is angered by the governor’s refusal to help him and leads a revolt. This uprising was noteworthy particularly because Black and White indentured servants banded together against a common foe.

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The aristocracy had begun to realize the dangers of coalitions between poor Blacks and Whites even before Bacon’s rebellion. Over the years, the slave codes and Virginia Acts methodically reinforced the dehumanization of Blacks and the barriers between them and poor Whites.

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Thirst for wealth and power was relentless as the driving force behind the death and enslavement of millions of Indigenous Peoples and Black Africans. The concept of Whiteness developed as a way to dehumanize the victims and distance the perpetrators from the violence of their actions.

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A major intellectual, religious leader and public figure in English-speaking colonial America, Cotton Mather helped to shape public views on treatment of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Peoples and the Salem witch trials.

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White resentment was intense during the period known as Reconstruction, following the Civil War. Rapid advancement for the formerly enslaved was followed by a rapid disintegration into Jim Crow.

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What is White freedom? From singing our national anthem to flag waving to traveling and even living wherever we please, we are often urged to appreciate our freedom. But freedom can mean very different things to different people…

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