User:Emilycollins/sandbox

After the abolition of slavery in 1865, the white citizens of America showed an increasing fear of racial mixture. The remnants of the racial divide became stronger post-slavery as the concept of whiteness developed. Unbridled lust threatened the purity of the nation, which increased white anxiety about interracial sex. This can be described through Montesquieu’s climatic theory in his book the Spirit of the Laws, which explains how people from different climates have different temperaments, “The inhabitants of warm countries are, like old men, timorous; the people in cold countries are, like young men, brave." At the time, black women held the jezebel stereotype, which claimed black women often initiated sex outside of marriage and were generally sexually promiscuous. This idea stemmed from the first encounters between European men and African women. As the men were not used to the extremely hot climate they misinterpreted the women’s lack of clothing for vulgarity. Similarly, black men were known for having a specific lust for white women. This created tension, as if white men were having sex with black women because they were more lustful, this meant black men would lust after white women in the same way, this threatened the white male dominance that was apparent at the time, increasing the fear of interracial interactions.

There are a few potential reasons as to why such strong ideas on interracial sex developed. The Reconstruction Era following the Civil War started to disassemble traditional aspects of southern society. The southerners who were used to being dominant were now no longer legally allowed to run their farms using slavery. Many whites struggled with this reformation and attempted to find loopholes to continue the exploitation of black labour. Additionally, the white Democrats were not pleased with the outcome and felt a sense of inadequacy among white men. This led them to taking out their frustration on the black population. This radical reconstruction of the South was deeply unpopular and slowly unravelled leading to the introduction of the Jim Crow Laws. These laws reinforced racial segregation as the white population refused to mix with the black population, again undermining the prominent black populace. This increased the sense of white dominance and sexual racism among the Southern people.

There were general heightened tensions following the end of the failed civil war in 1865, this increased the sexual anxiety in the population. Races did not want to mix, the whites were feeling inadequate and wanted to take back control. The Ku Klux Klan then formed in 1867, which led to violence and terrorism targeting the black population. There was a rise in lynch mob violence where many black men were accused of rape. This was not just senseless violence, but an attempt to preserve ‘whiteness’ and prevent racial blur, the whites wanted to remain dominant and make sure there was no interracial sexual activity. For example, mixed race couples that chose to live together were sought out and lynched by the KKK. The famous case of Emmett Till who was lynched at the age of fourteen for supposedly whistling at a white women shows the prominence of white male anxiety in the 1950’s. When the Jim Crow laws were eventually overturned, it took years for the court to resolve the numerous acts of discrimination.