Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad(2016), winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction as well as the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, is a masterful insight on the truth behind the slave experience. From one tragic event to another, Whitehead’s 320-page book encompasses themes of oppression, brutality, and tragedy. The Underground Railroadcovers significant periods in the life of Cora, a slave born on the Randal plantation in Georgia, and her journey to the North. Whitehead’s novel provides readers with insight into the complicated relationship amongst slaves; he further challenges the perception and commonly held belief that African Americans functioned as a cohesive, collective group to fight for their rights against slavery. Yet there is an underlying story that has never been talked about: internalized racism. In much the same way white people felt as if people of color were inferior, African Americans also discriminated against each other, despite the similarities of their difficult circumstances. Whitehead’s novel not only demonstrates the atrocities that resulted from internalized racism, but also forces readers to reflect on how this remains relevant to this day, since colorism and internalized racism are ongoing issues and prevalent social barriers.
Throughout the novel, Whitehead demonstrates the systems of oppression and discrimination within the slave community through his description of various tragic and atrocious events endured by several key characters. One significant moment of discrimination within the slave community is the events that followed Cora’s inheritance of her grandmother’s garden. Within the slaves’ quarters on the Randall plantation, Ajarry (Cora’s Grandmother) had owned a tiny three-square-yard patch of land to farm on. This land was passed to Mabel (Cora’s Mother), and then, once Mabel escaped the plantation, it was passed on to Cora. Once the land was Cora’s responsibility, other slaves began trying to take it from her. A massive slave named Blake uprooted her garden and built a doghouse for his dog in the space, without any regard for Cora, despite the fact she was just a little girl, and depended on the garden for her survival. In retaliation, Cora destroyed the doghouse with a hatchet. Not long afterward, when Cora eventually reached puberty, Blake and his friends raped her. The fundamental injustice of slavery consequently leads some of the black characters to commit acts of violence themselves with apparent indifference, such as Blake’s character, who mercilessly raped a young girl without any conscience. Despite the fact that both Cora and Blake are both very much enduring the same oppression and racism, somehow, they find a way to make each other’s lives more brutal and inhumane instead of helping each other.
In order to understand the implications of slave-to-slave discrimination, it is essential to understand the motivations behind it. It is also essential to comprehend the fact that the racism and discrimination depicted in Whitehead’s story are not only inflicted by white people but are also inflicted by other slaves themselves. This is abundantly apparent throughout the novel, specifically in the case of Moses. Moses is one of the black bosses on Randall. As a slave himself,he was as a child weak, and after his mother was sold away, he was forced to become a skilled laborer. It is not until he is promoted to the position of boss, does he become cruel. Despite the fact that Moses remained a slave himself, his responsibility to watch over the other slaves allows him to distance himself from identifying as a slave himself; in fact, Moses begins to feel the same hatred and superiority towards his fellow slaves as much as white slave masters. In chapter 11 titled “Mabel” (Cora’s mother), Mabel reflects upon Moses’s character, and the major changes he underwent. The Moses she remembers had suffered numerous hardships as a slave, but that was not the causality of who he became, and it did not make him “mean.” Yet Mabel notices Moses’s sudden change and cruelty after his acquisition of power. From Mabel’s point of view, Moses was not inherently evil; it is not until someone gets caught up in the evil system of power and superiority over others that they then become evil. She states, “Men start off good and then the world makes them mean” (Whitehead, 244).
Mabel’s interpretation of Moses’s changes after achieving a high rank of power delineates the connect between internalized racism and power. In fact, “just as racism results in the system of structural advantage called white privilege for white people and their communities, internalized racism results in the system of structural disadvantage called internalized racism for peoples and communities of color” (Bivens, 43). To understand and address internalized racism, it is essential to understand that people of color are victimized by racism and slavery, and have internalized these feelings; “that is, (they) develop ideas, beliefs, actions and behaviors that support or collude with racism. This internalized racism has its own systemic reality and its own negative consequences in the lives and communities of people of color” (Bivens, 44). One such consequence, as demonstrated in the book, is the lack of compassion and the indifference to cruel acts of violence towards each other. In the book, it was stated that, “Caesar had seen Cora stripped naked for her whippings, the blood pouring over her skin. Caesar… said ‘I’m sorry that happened to you.’ ‘That’s what they do’ Cora said” (Whitehead, 45-46). Through this exchange, it is evident that the violence the slaves had to endure allowed them to internalize feelings of inadequacy, ultimately forcing them to denounce their sense of worth. As a result, slaves became depersonalized, to the point where they had no sense of identity or self-worth–so much so they were not even allowed to have birthdays, since, “niggers don’t have birthdays” (Whitehead, 16). This detachment from humanity ultimately forced slaves to become desensitized to violence, making them more likely to be obedient and indifferent or lash out in violence against other slaves.
Despite the popularity of Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad,there are still people who believe that the contents of this book are nothing more than history. While his novel is a testament to the history of slavery, the past has shaped the present in a fundamental way. The idea of internalized racism has implications far beyond the contents of Whitehead’s book and is still largely relevant to this day, as this concept has become a major issue in today’s social climate. The concept of internalized racism and inter-racial discrimination “come through in the book,” and are, “a testament to both Whitehead’s deep dive into the history and his facility at taking some horrific facts and spinning them into a thrilling read that illuminates as much about America today as is does about America in Cora’s day” (Pulitzer). A key similarity in America in Cora’s day and America today is that interracial discrimination and internalized racism are prevalent issues that have remained despite the abolition of slavery. Slavery is not a thing of the past and has had dire consequences on our society. In fact, internalized racism has extended into what is today known as “colorism,” or the discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. A major root cause for this standard biased standard is slavery; “in American history, slavery constituted a strict caste system that distinguished Black slaves by their skin tones…lighter-skinned slaves were frequently fathered by White slave-owners and were, therefore, privileged” (Uzogara). Yet this “strict caste system” has never truly ceased to exist, as colorism has continued to foster self-hatred, discrimination, and unequal standards.
We continue to see this segregation and discrimination as a result of colorism throughout our own society. For example, many lighter-skinned men have attempted to maintain their elite status and privileges by excluding darker-skinned Blacks from entering their social circles. Some of these practices included the “‘Paper Bag Test’ (which banned Blacks from joining fraternities if their skin tones were darker than a brown paper bag), the ‘Comb test’ (which banned Blacks with coarse, nappy African hair if combs could not glide through it), and the ‘Blue veins’ society (which banned Blacks whose skin tones were too dark to see the blue veins on their arms)” (Uzogara). Despite the fact that slavery discriminated against African Americans as a result of their skin tone, African Americans today are continuing this discrimination inside their own races and ethnicities. Colorism in African-American communities has allowed light-skinned blacks to treat their darker-skinned counterparts in the same discriminatory fashion as whites have treated people of color for centuries; ultimately, Whitehead’s messages regarding internalized racism are more relevant than ever, as discrimination are a driving force behind so much of our society.
Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroadis both a testament to the history of slavery and a wakeup call regarding the untold tragedies committed by slaves against their fellow slaves. Storytelling through the life of young Cora, Whitehead challenges the commonly held belief that African Americans functioned as a harmonious and gracious group of people who banded together to fight for their freedoms. It sheds light on the darkest truth to come out of slavery: no one is free the persuasive chatter of power, and anyone can fall victim to consequences of the malleable mind of humans. The slowly etched inferiority instilled in people of color transformed them from people who once shared a common suffering into prey who aim to constantly get one leg up on their own kind. Whitehead’s eye-opening and powerful novel still remains relevant to this day, despite how long-ago slavery may seem to us. The burdens of slavery have remained with us throughout time, as discrimination based on skin tone is continually weighing on our society. What once was a battle between 2 skin tones has now because a battle amongst shades. Perhaps why The Underground Railroad is so highly praised and well renowned is not because of the accurate depiction of white oppression on African Americans, but because of its brutal honesty and the untold reality of internalized racism. It is brutal because it is realistic, for what once was a battle between two skin tones has now become a battle amongst shades.
Works Cited
Whitehead, Colson. The Underground Railroad. Random House Inc, 2018.
Bivens, Donna. “Chapter 5: What Is Internalized Racism?” Flipping the Script: White Privilege and Community Building, MP Associates, Inc. and the Center for Assessment and Policy Development, 2005, pp. 43–52.“Colson Whitehead Still Feeling Effects of Writing Pulitzer-Winning The
Underground Railroad.” The Pulitzer Prize, Columbia University, 12 Feb. 2018, https://www.pulitzer.org/event/colson-whitehead-still-feeling-effects-writing-pulitzer-winning-underground-railroad.
Uzogara, Ekeoma E., et al. “A Comparison of Skin Tone Discrimination Among African American Men: 1995 and 2003.” Psychology of Men & Masculinity, vol. 15, no. 2, Apr. 2014, pp. 201–212. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/a0033479.
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