The white “race” was invented by rich Virginians in 1676 in the aftermath of a populous rebellion of impoverished, indentured, and enslaved Africans and Europeans now known as Bacon’s Rebellion.
In the decades after Bacon's Rebellion, an African man and an English woman - husband and wife - sing of their their fate, their future as law by law, edict by edict, their family, their marriage, their love are made illegal.
How skin became color, color became race and race became power as told by President #ThomasJefferson, Sally Hemings, and one of their six children, Eston Hemings.
Meet the Makers of THE HISTORY OF WHITE PEOPLE IN AMERICA, a series examining how skin color has come to define race in our country. Featuring filmmakers Jon Halperin and Pierce Freelon, guests Cornelius Moore and Ronda Taylor Bullock, and musical performances with Nnenna Freelon, Pierce Freelon and Alan Thompson.