We the "White" People: Race, Culture, and the Virginia Constitution of 1902

dc.contributor.authorBoggs, Jeremyen
dc.contributor.committeechairShifflett, Crandall A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberMollin, Marian B.en
dc.contributor.committeememberBunch-Lyons, Beverlyen
dc.contributor.departmentHistoryen
dc.date.accessioned2011-08-06T14:41:45Zen
dc.date.adate2003-11-14en
dc.date.available2011-08-06T14:41:45Zen
dc.date.issued2003-09-29en
dc.date.rdate2004-11-14en
dc.date.sdate2003-10-30en
dc.description.abstractIn 1902, in an effort to reestablish what they saw as whites' natural right to control government rule over blacks, the delegates to Virginia's Constitutional Convention of 1901-1902 declared the new constitution law that they felt reflected "the true opinion of the people of Virginia." This thesis argues that while Virginia's 1902 Constitution increased the political power of whites and decreased that of black Virginians, the reasons why they needed the document in the first place highlights an important aspect regarding the anxiety of many white Virginians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Specifically, it helps to show how whiteness as a source of political and social power was not concrete or absolute, but rather was a reaction to the increasing presence and assertion of power by black Virginians. I argue that white Virginians, faced with the increasing political and social presence of black Virginians as equals, sought to reestablish their racial superiority through law and constitutional revision. However, by making their whiteness "visible"-- by continually reasserting their claim to legitimate power because they were "white"-- white Virginians revealed how unstable their racial world had become.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.otheretd-10302003-171358en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-10302003-171358en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/9615en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartjeboggs_abstract.pdfen
dc.relation.haspartjeboggs_thesis.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectcultureen
dc.subjectwhitenessen
dc.subjectVirginiaen
dc.subjectsegregationen
dc.subjectconstitutionen
dc.subjectraceen
dc.titleWe the "White" People: Race, Culture, and the Virginia Constitution of 1902en
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineHistoryen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

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