Episode 096: Nicholas Guyatt, The Origins of Racial Segregation in the United States

by Liz CovartAugust 23, 2016

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Ever wonder how the United States’ problem with race developed and why early American reformers didn’t find a way to fix it during the earliest days of the republic?

Today, Nicholas Guyatt, author of Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation, leads us on an exploration of how and why the idea of separate but equal developed in the early United States.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Episode Summary

Nicholas Guyatt, a University Lecturer at Cambridge University and author of Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation, leads us on an exploration of how and why the idea of separate but equal developed in the early days of the United States.

During our investigation, Nick reveals the demographics of the United States after the War for Independence; The early American problem of racial integration; And how and why early American reformers invented the idea of racial segregation.

What You’ll Discover

Demographics of the United States at the end of the War for Independence
Relations between white Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans
European ideas about abolition
How early Americans viewed the Declaration of Independence’s promise of “all men are created equal”
The United States’ integration problem
Early American and European ideas about race
Why the United States became a race-based society
Why British Americans didn’t intermarry with people of other races more
The early American theory of degradation
Early American reformers’ ideas about Native Americans
Federal program for Native American “civilization”
Native American views on white reformers’ “civilization” plan
White American reformers’ ideas to abolish slavery in the new United States
White American reformers’ experiments with reversing ill-effects of degradation
White American reformers’ turn to the idea of colonization
The colony at Sierra Leone
The founding of Liberia
The American Colonization Society
The Indian Removal Act of 1830

Links to People, Places, and Publications

Nicholas Guyatt
Nick’s Cambridge University webpage
Nick’s Twitter Handle: @NicholasGuyatt
Bind Us Apart: How Enlightened Americans Invented Racial Segregation
Providence and the Invention of the United States, 1607-1876

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what would have happened if the United States had created one or more of the reformers' proposed states for African Americans and Native Americans?