White Supremacy and the Racial Contract in the United States

Identifier

6566

Author

Cayna Laurene Sharp

Date

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Political Science

Committee Chair

Sharon Stanley

Committee Member

Derefe Chevannes

Committee Member

Nicole Detraz

Abstract

This thesis project conducts an investigation into the evolution of the American polity through the lens of the racial contract. By relying on Charles Mills' The Racial Contract, I show through three episodes of American history, how the racial contract has been instituted and revised over time. The three periods of history I investigate are: the end of Reconsturction to the rise of Jim Crow in the nineteenth century, suburbanization in the mid-twentieth century, and the rise of mass incarceration as a means of replacing slavery since the end of the American Civil War. Through this analysis, I hope to show that the American polity is fundamentally based in and functions mainly to support white supremacy.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

Recommended Citation

Sharp, Cayna Laurene, "White Supremacy and the Racial Contract in the United States" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2079.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/2079