No One-Drop rule or Apartheid America

Unlike apartheid South Africa,the 1 drop rule is in force in the United States.In order to enforce the idea of racial seperation and white supremacy the 1 drop rule has been enforced socially and in some cases legally.This "rule" holds that an individual with 1 drop of black blood is wholly black.In practice mixed race individuals have and (in many cases still) receive better treatment from white Americans than darker-skinned African-Americans .Many of the lightest have gone so far as to "pass " as white and escape the stigma of blackness completely .But all in all in the United States you are what you look like and therefore even the lightest black is still black in the eyes of most white Americans.Under what conditions could a gradated color discrimination system a la South African apartheid have developed in the United States ? In this system mixed raced individuals are not only perceived by the white population as better than darker African Americans but are also considered non-black in law and are therefore open to a host of opportunites that arent accorded to darker African-Americans.This system is in place prior to the Civil War so how does it affect the conflict as a whole? In this system you could have free-mixed race blacks (some slave-holding) in the CSA fighting to preserve their status while many free mixed raced individuals in the North fight to end slavery to help their mixed race brethern who are held in bondage in the South.If this system carried over into the 20th century racial relations would look very different as there would be no uniform black population but a divided population with mixed race individuals who would undoubedtly consider themselves better (as some do per OTL) but are actually accorded better treatment under law and in the eyes of some whites.How would American Indians,Asians and Hispanics fit into this insanity? Would black/white interracial unions be more or less common than their tiny numbers OTL? Most importantly would such practices ever be opposed in South Africa as the main world superpower did the same thing? Any and all ideas appreciated.
 
Indentured servants?

The constitution makes indentured servants legal, as before the revolution, and continues to allow importation of slaves after 1808. The price of slaves is kept lower by imports and competition from indentures and therefore it is easier for slaves to buy their freedom.
We wind up with a multitier system where there are free whites, indentured whites, free blacks, and slave blacks. The free blacks are more numerous and better able to blend in with poorer whites. Whites are poorer because they face more competition for jobs with indentured imported whites. A gradual color gradation develops like everywhere else in the world.
 

Grey Wolf

Gone Fishin'
Donor
I have to admit that it was quite a surprise to me when I first discovered that 'black' meant light brown. I had never viewed it as a white OR black issue before, but gradations of colour. I remember being surprised when people said Colin Powell was black. Also at a school I taught at in London the local authority (who were idiots) saw fit to set up a 'black history society' which 'only black' children could go too....In practice this worked as Michael says, any mixed race children of the lightest colour could go along but no purely white ones. Seemed rather like racism to me. The same local authority also required s to class all the children according to ethnic origin - apart from the fact that I had never thought of the kids in that way before it seemed strange to me to class as 'ethnic minority' children with one white and one black parents. I don't know if there is a summary to what I am wittering on about, but it rings a bell is all

Grey Wolf

Michael E Johnson said:
Unlike apartheid South Africa,the 1 drop rule is in force in the United States.In order to enforce the idea of racial seperation and white supremacy the 1 drop rule has been enforced socially and in some cases legally.This "rule" holds that an individual with 1 drop of black blood is wholly black.In practice mixed race individuals have and (in many cases still) receive better treatment from white Americans than darker-skinned African-Americans .Many of the lightest have gone so far as to "pass " as white and escape the stigma of blackness completely .But all in all in the United States you are what you look like and therefore even the lightest black is still black in the eyes of most white Americans.Under what conditions could a gradated color discrimination system a la South African apartheid have developed in the United States ? In this system mixed raced individuals are not only perceived by the white population as better than darker African Americans but are also considered non-black in law and are therefore open to a host of opportunites that arent accorded to darker African-Americans.This system is in place prior to the Civil War so how does it affect the conflict as a whole? In this system you could have free-mixed race blacks (some slave-holding) in the CSA fighting to preserve their status while many free mixed raced individuals in the North fight to end slavery to help their mixed race brethern who are held in bondage in the South.If this system carried over into the 20th century racial relations would look very different as there would be no uniform black population but a divided population with mixed race individuals who would undoubedtly consider themselves better (as some do per OTL) but are actually accorded better treatment under law and in the eyes of some whites.How would American Indians,Asians and Hispanics fit into this insanity? Would black/white interracial unions be more or less common than their tiny numbers OTL? Most importantly would such practices ever be opposed in South Africa as the main world superpower did the same thing? Any and all ideas appreciated.
 
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