Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

According to Humes, Jones, and Ramirez in “Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010 Census Briefs,” there are six races categories in the United States: “White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander” and “Some Other Race” 2011: 2. The following quotation defines the six races categories. “White” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. “Black or African American” refers to a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. “American Indian or Alaska Native” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America including Central America. “Asian” refers a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. “Some Other Race” includes all other peoples not included in the White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. Multiracial, mixed, interracial, or a Hispanic or Latino group are included in this category Humes et al., 2011: 3. In the 2010 US census, the largest racial group is White 223.6 million, “accounting for 72 percent of all people living in the United States” 2011: 4. It means that all racial groups other than White are the minorities. The minorities often experience the practice of racism from the majority because they are different. One of the differences is their physical appearance. Unlike the Whites who have “light skin, straight or wavy hair and high nose,” the Blacks have “dark skin, frizzly hair, and flat nose” Boas, 1955: 4. Another racial minority is the Asians who have “flat faces and straight black hair” 1955: 4. The difference of physical appearance can cause the majority think that minorities are inferior. They think that the minorities have lower intelligence. However, this is not true. According to Franz Boas in his book Race, Language, and Culture , Professor Garth makes a research on relationship between race and intelligence. The professor draws conclusion that “it is not possible to prove a difference due to genetic factors” and that the difference in intelligence is due to “differences in social environment” 1955: 11. The majorities often think that the minorities have bad behavior. This is not true, either. There is no relationship between race and behavior. “From Waitz on, through Spencer, Tylor, Bastian, to our times, ethnologists have not given serious attention to race, because they find cultural forms distributed regardless of race” 1955: 13. They find that the North American Indians are stoic and ready to endure pain and torture without a murmur 1955: 13. However, this not because they are Indians, but this is because they live in a culture that “demands repression of emotion” 1955: 13. In the case of black people, the practice of racism against them is not only because the Whites think that the Blacks have lower intelligence and bad behavior but it is also because during the slavery time, black people were the slaves. According to Blum, et al. in The National Experience: a History of the United States , after 1815, the economy of American South depended on the cultivation of cotton and slaves brought higher return on investment 1985: 207. Cotton was a profitable crop because the price was high. The owner of a plantation could make big profit by “exploiting the labor of black slaves” so the production costs were low and by selling the cotton for a high price 1985: 207. During the slavery time, slaves were considered as valuable property. For the masters, the possession of slaves brought great prestige. If there was a person who owned a plantation in which the workers were the slaves, he was considered as a successful person 1985: 209. Because slaves were considered as property, they were treated badly. They were overworked and were given monotonous food 1985: 210. Slavery in the United States of America was abolished in 1865 through Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution http:www.ourdocuments.govdoc.php?flash=truedoc=40. However, the treatment toward black people was not improved. They experienced the practice of racism from the Whites who thought that the Blacks were inferior race. There were laws that forced the segregation between Blacks and Whites on the public transportation Boyer, et al, 1990: 756. Another practice of racism was lynching. According to Amy Louise Wood in Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940 , “hundreds, sometimes thousands, of white spectators gathered and watched as their fellow citizens tortured, mutilated and hanged or burned” 2009: 1. The majority of the lynching victims were black men 2009: 4. The horrifying violence was representation of “racial hierarchy” that is powerful Whites and helpless Blacks 2009: 2. Lynchings took place most frequently in the American South in 1890s 2009: 3. The practice of racism is also experienced by mixed-race people. One of them is the mulatto. Being a mulatto means having both African and European ancestry Reuter, 1928: 36. However, because of the “one drop rule,” one drop of Black blood makes a person Black, they are considered Blacks Hickman, 1997: 1163. The law of Virginia that was enacted in 1785 and continued to apply through nineteenth century gave the definition of a Negro: “a person with a black parent or grandparent” Zackodnik, 2001: 433. The law made a person who had at least one quarter African blood a Negro or Black. Consequently, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, southern courts treated a Mulatto as discriminatively as black people Bodenhorn, 2002: 25. Racism against black people and Mulattoes inspires some authors to write novels about it. One of the novels that tell about racism against black people and Mulattoes is The Marrow of Tradition that was written by Charles W. Chesnutt. The novel tells about Southern society that discriminates black people and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century. There are various characters in the novel that experience the practice of racism. The experiences of practice of racism that are depicted in The Marrow of Tradition become the focus of this study. There are two reasons why the writer chooses Chesnutts The Marrow of Tradition to analyze. The first reason is that the novel took place in the late nineteenth century when the practice of racism, including racial segregation, was protected by law so the novel is suitable for studying racism in the United States of America. The second reason is that there are various characters in the novel that experience the practice of racism. To analyze racism experienced by the Blacks and Mulattoes in the late nineteenth century United States of America in Chesnutt’s The Marrow of Tradition , the writer uses sociocultural-historical approach. The approach is used because this study is related to the social, cultural, and historical background of Blacks and Mulattoes in the United States of America.

B. Problem Formulation