Constructing Floridians: Natives And Europeans In The Colonial Floridas, 1513-1783

Race and racism simply did not arrive to the shores of Florida. Instead, this volume demonstrates how racism emerged out of the frustrations and failures of the Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Britons to control the land and people of Florida ... an important addition to the growing literature of race in early America.--Andrew K. Frank, Florida Atlantic University Constructing Floridians explores the origins of racialization in peninsular Florida and its hinterlands during the 300 years prior to the founding of the United States. Focusing not on a single ethnic or cultural community but on all the major groups in the region during the colonial period, this sociocultural study of Europeans and native tribes examines the processes by which the peoples of Spain, France, and Great Britain and half a dozen Florida tribes--the Gulaes, Calusas, Timucuans, Apalachees, Creeks, and Seminoles--forged understandings of one another and themselves through their individual and collective ideas and activities. Murphree argues that the Europeans, frustrated by their inability to "tame" the peninsula, blamed the natives for their problems. Emphasizing how environmental limitations and repeated colonial failures contributed to increasingly negative perceptions and characterizations of American Indians--which the Europeans attributed to perceived racial differences--he contends that barriers between the Europeans and the Indians hardened over time.

• | Author: Daniel S. Murphree
• | Publisher: University Press Of Florida
• | Publication Date: Sep 19, 2017
• | Number of Pages: 200 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback/History
• | ISBN-10: 081306452X
• | ISBN-13: 9780813064529