'We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident...': An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Roots of Racism and Slavery in America

by Kenneth N. Addison

Overview

'We hold these truths to be self evident_' An Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Roots of Racism and Slavery in America delves into the philosophical, historical, socio/cultural and political evolution of racism and slavery in America. The premise of this work is that racism and slavery in America are the result of an unintentional historical intertwining of various Western philosophical, religious, cultural, social, economic, and political strands of thought that date back to the Classical Era. These strands have become tangled in a Gordian knot, which can only be unraveled through the bold application of a variety of multidisciplinary tools. By doing so, this book is intended help the reader understand how the United States, a nation that claims 'all men are created equal,' could be responsible for slavery and the intractable threads of racism and inequality that have become woven into its cultural the fabric.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761843306
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/16/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.07(d)

About the Author

Dr. Kenneth Addison is a professor in the Educational Foundations program at Northeastern Illinois University. As a faculty member in the Educational Foundations program he both coordinates and teaches courses that serve as the philosophical, historical, anthropological, sociological, and psychological foundations of American education.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Part One: The Architecture of Hegemony: Western Ascension, Race, and World Dominance
Chapter 2 1. Philosophy: Western Culture's Rosetta Stone
Chapter 3 2. Eurocentrism: The Metaphysics of Western Hegemony
Chapter 4 3. Imperialism: A Teleological Analysis of Western Ascension
Chapter 5 4. Racism: Cornerstone of American Privilege
Part 6 Part Two: A Pyramid of Privilege: The Structure of American Inequality
Chapter 7 5. Slavery: The Bedrock of English Colonial Privilege
Chapter 8 6. The Constitution: A Guarantor of Property Rights and a Blueprint for Racial Inequality
Chapter 9 7. Black Labor/ White Wealth: Slavery's Role in Constructing America's Pyramid of Privilege
Chapter 10 8. Black Observations from the Shadow of the Pyramid

Editorial Reviews

With rigorous historical analysis that excavates the centrality of white supremacy to institutions and beliefs that constitute the very core of the United States, We Hold These Truths offers fresh insights into the complexity of contemporary debates surrounding race and power. Readers will be moved to think, and more importantly to act, by Addison's evocative writing, detailed analysis and striking imagery. An iconoclastic text, We Hold These Truths is a must-read for students invested in economic, gender and racial justice, across the disciplines.

Dr. Erica Meiners

Dr. Addison's analysis of the roots of racism in the U.S. on one level is an exploration and documentation of the underpinnings of the thinking that underlies colonial avarice and acquisition and its accompanying, ongoing, rationalizing/ authorizing / legitimizing/ ideology. On another level, it is an exposé - a portrait of Americans in stark contradiction with themselves: clinging to the mythic narrative of "liberty, equality, justice for all" while surrounded by the "toxic air of indifference and racism" aimed at those at the bottom of the well, as Addison puts it, following Derrick Bell, "cast aside like so much 'refuse'".

Dr. Thomas Kochman

With rigorous historical analysis that excavates the centrality of white supremacy to institutions and beliefs that constitute the very core of the United States, We Hold These Truths offers fresh insights into the complexity of contemporary debates surrounding race and power. Readers will be moved to think, and more importantly to act, by Addison's evocative writing, detailed analysis and striking imagery. An iconoclastic text, We Hold These Truths is a must-read for students invested in economic, gender and racial justice, across the disciplines.--Dr. Erica Meiners, author of Right to be Hostile: Schools, Prisons, and the Making of Public Enemies and co-author of Disruptive Readings on Making

Dr. Addison's analysis of the roots of racism in the U.S. on one level is an exploration and documentation of the underpinnings of the thinking that underlies colonial avarice and acquisition and its accompanying, ongoing, rationalizing/ authorizing / legitimizing/ ideology. On another level, it is an exposé - a portrait of Americans in stark contradiction with themselves: clinging to the mythic narrative of "liberty, equality, justice for all" while surrounded by the "toxic air of indifference and racism" aimed at those at the bottom of the well, as Addison puts it, following Derrick Bell, "cast aside like so much 'refuse'".--Dr. Thomas Kochman, author of Rappin' and Stylin' Out: Communication in Urban Black America, Black and White Styles in Conflict and co-author of the

From the Publisher