Whiteness as freedom: paradoxes of liberty and slavery in British New York, 1664–1763
Abstract
The attempt to view whiteness as a form of property encounters significant obstacles when applied to the colonial era in North America. This article examines the assumptions and arguments made by Cheryl Harris in her discussion of the historical background in “Whiteness as Property” (1993), and demonstrates that the complexity and variety of colonial societies ensure the notion that whiteness is a species of property has only limited purchase in that time and place. Instead, this article suggests that viewing whiteness as a form of freedom would be a better means of using Harris’s key insight – that whiteness is an enabling condition that permits the exercise of a broad range of rights and entitlements – as a category of historical analysis in the colonial era.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Colonialism
slavery
and trade
Literature: history
themes
analysis
Historical Economic and Social Studies
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Ethnic and Racial Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 2206–2222
- Publication date
- 9 January 2026
- Language
- EN