American History Essay: Exploring Race's Challenge to Americanness

This essay critically examines the extent to which race has challenged the concept of "Americanness" in the United States, exploring the paradox of inequality within a society that champions individualism and freedom. The essay analyzes the influence of citizenship and labor structures on racial inequality, focusing on the experiences of African Americans and Hispanics. It draws upon the writings of Frederick Douglass, who questioned the meaning of freedom for slaves, and Gloria Anzaldúa, who addresses contemporary issues of multiculturalism and identity. The essay compares and contrasts the historical contexts of the African American and Chicano movements, highlighting their struggles for civil rights and recognition. It analyzes the historical importance of these movements and their impact on the definition of "Americanness", discussing the perspectives of various ethnic groups and the ongoing challenges to achieving equality and inclusion in American society. The essay reveals the historical and ongoing impact of race on American identity and the fight for equality.

Running head: American History
American History

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To what extent race has challenged the concept of “Americanness”?
More than two centuries of struggle to realize the principles of its universal equality have passed
but the United States is still confronting the issues of inequalities relating to gender, races and
class. In a society which claims individualism, freedom and limitless mobility, the existence of
proliferating inequality across the attributive lines of gender and race seems to be a paradox. But
is it in reality? The two major structures through which the inequality in the race have been
shaped in the United States are citizenship and labor (Heiskanen, 2009, 1-15).
While citizenship has been used to draw limits amongst the people included as the members of
society and is entitled to protection, respect and rights, on the other hand, those who are barred
and thus cannot claim for their rights or recognition. Labor puts the people in the economic order
thereby creating an impact on their accessibility for services and goods, their standard of living
and level of autonomy and quality of life. Both aspects constitute the ways which prioritize white
men and empower them as compared to women and radicalized minorities (James, 2014, 1-100).
Here Americanness can be defined as the characteristic of being an American .Americanness
comes from sense of belonging to American culture. So, this essay debates on what extent have
the race challenged the concept of Americanness. It shall reveal the similarities and differences
in the context of African, American and Hispanic movements. The various literatures would be
critically analyzed in this regard. Their historical importance would influence the arguments of
the text along with comparing them in various contexts.
Frederick Douglass in his speech on the Independence Day celebration on July 5th, 1852 asked
the audience ‘What to the slave is the fourth of July? ‘(Booker, 2015). He had acknowledged the
founding fathers of the United States of America for committing their life to liberty and creating

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happiness. He mentioned that while the founders of the nation were great men but on the other
hand he contradicts this fact by stating that there was hypocrisy in their ideas. It is because of the
existence of slaves on the land of U.S.
He had further asked that if the great principles of natural justice and freedom encompassed in
the Declaration of Independence extended to the blacks. It was the time when slavery was yet to
be abolished from the U.S. The blacks were demotivated from participating in the Fourth of July
celebrations even in the free states. For example , he addressed the dissimilarities amongst the
white men and the Negros over the land of U.S. While on the other hand in the year 2009,
Gloria E. Anzaldua in her essay ‘The New Mestiza Nation: A Multicultural Movement
‘expresses her anger and grief towards the increase of hate groups, the KKK, white supremacy
groups along with the neo-nazis as the society are heading to the twenty-first century.
It has been claimed by these groups that the racial groups, the working class and ‘the people of
color ‘are taking over the territory of the whites. They further say that these groups use
affirmative actions for driving the whites out of the job. For example, the affirmative action’s
comprise of the use of racial quotas by the blacks to get jobs in U.S. The white supremacists
along with the so-called advocates of family values and elitists of academics accuse the
multiculturalists of weakening the national identity and the literary canon. They are giving
people of color, gay men, the lesbians and working class people a dominating control over the
society of U.S. (Power-Greene, 2014, 1-20).
While Douglass expressed his sorrow towards the discrimination faced by African Americans in
the nineteenth century, Anzaldúa raised the issue of the regressive state of the nation inside and
outside the field of education. She has even discussed the extended definition of her theory 'new

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mestiza ‘. She explains that the term ‘mestiza’ has many forms and it can be used beyond the
racial identity and biological categories Mestiza is a woman of mixed racial and ethnic ancestry
specially of mixed Indian American or European descent . It, therefore, includes spiritual,
asthenic and intellectual aspects as well.
She clarifies that multiculturalism in a true sense destroys the fantasy which has dominated the
official version of the U.S. in its history. It poses a threat to the authority of white males and
makes them feel ashamed of their culture through the representation of perceptions and histories
of the ethnic groups. The multiculturalists have torn the fantasy of a monocultural country and
examined the history of external and internal colonialism by the government of the U.S. They
have opposed the wars of the U.S. with the third world countries. Thus the women of color, gay
people and the working class have denied from letting out their past or stories to be made
invisible or turned against them(Hunter, 2018,1-37).
In this context, both the texts show that mid ninetieth and rise of the twentieth century saw
various movements which revealed the struggle of African American and Hispanics to become
‘Americans'. The Chicano Movement in the year 1960 was a civil rights movement which was an
extended version of Mexican –American civil rights movement. It stated the goal of
accomplishing the empowerment of Mexican Americans. The term Chicano was used as a
disrespectful label for the children of the migrants of Mexico. This new generation of Mexican
Americans was excluded by people from both sides.
These people were of the opinion that these children were neither Americans nor Mexicans.
Later on, Chicano was accepted as a mark of ethnic pride and self-determination. This movement
comprised of many issues like rights of workers in the farms, restoration of land grants, voting,

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and political rights along with education. It addressed the undesirable stereotypes of Mexicans in
the media and the consciousness of Americans. Moreover, in 1965 the Delano grape strike which
was sparked by Filipino American workers of the farms became a struggle when voting and civil
rights activists and labor leaders were united with the strikers (Marable, 2015,1-20).
Amongst them were the activists Dolores Huerta who was the founder of National Farm Workers
Association with her co-leader César Chávez. Her slogan was Si, se puede (in Spanish for Yes,
we can). It became a gathering cry for the Mexican American civil rights movement or the
Chicano Movement.In this context, in the mid-nineteenth century, most of the Anglos made
distinctions on the basis of class and appearance amongst the Mexicans. They considered
Mexicans as Indians or mestizos, thereby fitting them into the category of ‘unfree labor ‘ who
was not entitled to rights of citizenship of America. The process of the racialization of Mexicans
laid the basis for their struggle over Mexican American citizenship and labor (King, 2010, 1-50).
Thus the speech given by Douglass on July 5th, 1852 is still relevant 163 years later. He,
therefore, asked the white audience that, "are they mocking him by asking him to speak today?"
(Kendi, 2018). He was in deep sorrow for his countrymen and fellow activists who were still
facing cruelty and injustice along with him. He, therefore, asked the audience that,'' “What to the
Slave of America is the Fourth of July?" It appeared to him that the celebration of freedom and
liberty for the U.S. was liberty which was a show-off and a vanity.
He further said that the sounds of rejoicing of the Americans were heartless and empty and the
hymns and prayers offered to the Lord were mere fraud and deception. It was a veil covering up
all the crimes that would bring disgrace to the nation. He further accused the nation of being
guilty. This can be explained with the help of one example. His skillful use of the second person

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in his speech revealed the chasm amongst the freedom of the whites as per the Declaration of
Independence and the slavery of the African Americans and Hispanics on the land of the whites.
This speech of Douglass has not lost its relevance in the last 163 years (Smedley, 2018, 1-30).
It has been accepted by the Americans that there was an inherent contradiction and that the
American project was afflicted by the bequest of slavery. Their identity was crushed by white
people. Similar views have been expressed by Gloria Anzaldua in her work. She says that the
mestizas feel worn down through the costs of exclusionary education (Smiley, 2016). These
costs have been high for women of color, activists, scholars and artists producing scholarships
and possibilities for representing themselves in higher studies. She calls herself a ‘mestiza
multiculturalist’. Moreover, she says that the mestiza multiculturalists are well acquainted with
the threats of crossing the borders as they continue to work across the lines of fire (Schlesinger,
1998, 1-40).
Much earlier than Anzaldua represented her sufferings as a multiculturalists mestiza in the
twenty-first century, Douglass worked for the social reforms of the African Americans and the
people of color till his death in the nineteenth century. He strongly disapproved the notion that
the blacks failed to make a positive impression in the minds of the people. He supported his point
by stating the fact that when a black commits a crime in the State of Virginia, then he is
sentenced to death punishment. But a white man is subjected to a death punishment only in case
of two similar crimes out of a list of seventy-two crimes (Hodder, 2016, 1360-1377).
It shows that the manhood of a slave is conceded as it has been acknowledged that a slave is a
moral, responsible and intellectual only in the case when he commits a crime.He further argued
that the statues of Southern States are covered with legislation and forbidding which impose

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severe fines and penalties upon teaching a slave how to write or read. So, he affirmed the fact
that Negros is equal men as Americans. While Douglass struggled for equality of Negros in the
nineteenth century, Anzaldua struggled for establishing equality for women of color, gays,
lesbians and the working people in the field of education in the modern times (Yarbro-Bejarano,
2017,11-31).
The views presented in her work the U.S. is struggling with the identity crisis. As per her
opinion, the conservatives aspire to keep higher studies an institution for Euros and Anglos(
Huntington, 2016,10). The aim of Americans is to expand the world of Euros and Anglos and
dominate the third world. But this view has been opposed by activists like her. She says that the
borders of America do not stop in Canada or Mexico. They extend beyond Central, North and
South America and Canada. She says that the new concept of racism has poured hegemonic
theories which make the mestizas, people of color and lesbian of color feel that they don't fit into
this world (Anzaldúa, 2015, 1-10).
Thus the two texts differ with each other in a way that ‘What to a slave is Fourth of July ‘ by
Fredrick Douglass represented the grieves of Negros who were treated as slaves by the
Americans in the nineteenth century (Parish, 2018,1-100). On the other hand, ‘The new mestiza’
written by Gloria Anzaldua articulates the difficulties faced by working people, people of color,
women of color and other mestizas representing different races and ethnicities in the U.S in the
modern times. She raises her voice against the hypocrisy where political agendas are reduced to
efforts done superficially to wear ethnic clothes, serve international food or beautifying the
airports and complexes with native colors and art (Anzaldúa, 2009, 1-20).

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It is to be noted here that this misappropriation is an endeavor to regulate the dissimilarities by
apportioning them towards the sections which are bordered off in the curriculum. In this case,
diversity is skillfully treated as an artificial outlay which does not disrupt the comfort zone of the
whites. It is thereby limited to footnotes in the human psyche. On the other hand; Douglass
proposed that the major issue of the nineteenth century was the color-line problem. Du Bios in
his work ‘W.E.B. Du Bois the Souls of Black Folk’ in the year 1903 expressed his views on the
discrimination between black and white in America. He shared similar opinions as those of
Douglass (GradeSaver LLC., 2019).
He visualized society beyond the veil of the race resulting from double consciousness which is a
sense of looking oneself from the perception of other people. His work has also offered the
analysis of the progressive race along with the difficulties faced in achieving the progress and the
probabilities of a progressive approach as the nation enters into the twentieth century (Stepto,
2016, 187-198). For example, Du Bois highlighted the fact that civic equality, rights to caste vote
and education for the young people are necessary for the progress of African Americans. In his
work, he has critiqued the American materialism by referring to the progressing Atlanta in which
attention to gain wealth has replaced all other deliberations.
He further debates that a balance should strike between standards of human culture and standards
of lower training. In this context, he opined that the college of African and Americans should
train the talented students who can contribute to educating the lower classes along with acting as
associates for improving the relations amongst the races. Douglass also hopes that the inevitable
forces shall work for the collapse of bondage. He was overwhelmed to say that a change has
been introduced over the affairs of mankind (Michaels, 2016, 1-10).

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Thus, to conclude, it can be said that both the works are landmarks in the history of America.
They represent the fight for equality and justice for the people of color, females of color, gays
and lesbians both in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. Douglass, on one hand, speaks
about the frustration which was prompted by the gaps created between the ideals of America and
the reality witnessed by the blacks. While on the other hand, Anzaldúa describes the struggle of
the Chicano people both with the whites as well as within their cultures. She has explained the
alienation from the life of Chicano as she feels excluded by her own culture.

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